


If I Was Your Vampire

by crazyTXgradstudent



Category: Dracula (TV 2020), Dracula Netflix - Fandom
Genre: And Claes Bang, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Attempted Sexual Assault, Brooding Dracula, Count Dracula - Freeform, Dracula Influence/References, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fucking Dracula, I Blame Tumblr, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, Impossible relationships, Inspired by Dracula BBC, Inspired by Marilyn Manson, Protective Dracula, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Underage for like 2 seconds
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2020-02-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:49:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 38,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22330609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crazyTXgradstudent/pseuds/crazyTXgradstudent
Summary: This is what happens when a vampire decides to hang around, whether you want it or not. Overbearing, overprotective, so on, and so forth. Dracula is a pain in the ass.The truth is, I suck at summaries.Give it a go, tell me what you think, in the nicest way possible.As Dracula said, a bee can always find nectar ;-)
Relationships: Dracula/Original Female Character(s), dracula/OFC
Comments: 146
Kudos: 192





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some attempt at assault in this chapter, and possibly throughout the story. Mind the tags.

**The first time I met him…**

I was 15, alone in the woods with a boy who said he loved me, and I was two seconds away from participating in a sexual encounter that I was not ready for. Scared, and wanting to leave, I had pushed my boyfriend, Daniel away. My refusal meant nothing to him, though, and he moved after me, relentlessly. 

“Don’t be such a tease, Sarah!” Danny, as all our friends called him, growled at me. He loomed over me again, pushing my legs back apart, and settled between.

“I said no!” I screamed in his face and kicked at him, pummeling him with my fists first, and then with the heels of my boots as I scrambled away from him. I turned over and crawled, my knees skinning, and palms scraping against the pine needles and rocks, when I was grabbed again. I screamed as I was dragged backwards, and then he was on me again. He pinned my wrists with one hand, and with the other, loosened his fly. Tears rolled freely down my cheeks, and my words were now just whispers, pleas, begging him to stop and let me go. His hands left his zipper and went to mine, and then—

“I think the girl said no, son.” 

A deep voice commanded our attention, and Danny pulled back, releasing me so that he could turn around. It all happened so fast, in a matter of seconds, it seemed, as the oddly-accented voice attached to a figure slowly appeared behind Danny. Dazed, I blinked a few times to see more clearly my savior, but it was over before it happened. 

The stranger winked down at me from over Danny’s shoulder, and in another breath, Danny was gone. Literally ripped from above me and disappeared to where I knew not. Whimpering, I scrambled backwards again, wanting to escape them both. From somewhere off in the darkness, I heard Danny scream, and then I heard what sounded like a gurgle, and what I would swear sounded like growls and teeth gnashing, and then it was silent. Eerily silent. Not even the insects dared make a noise, and the trees no longer swayed. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears as I backed myself up against a tree, my entire body shaking and teeth chattering with renewed fear.

Moments passed, and then, from out of the darkness, the stranger reappeared, seeming to materialize out of thin air. Danny wasn’t with him. My breath caught, and my stomach roiled with a new unease at seeing some dark liquid on his face, around his lips and on his chin. I squinted to see better. Was that blood? I wanted to call for Danny, but I couldn’t get the words out. Then the stranger was there, only a few feet away. He was casually wiping at his face with some tissue or rag, which he placed back in his pocket as he made his way to me. He smiled, but just barely, his face now clean. 

“Please don’t hurt me.” My voice sounded foreign, weak. As if it belonged to someone else. 

He held out a hand to me. “Sarah, is it? What on earth are you doing out here with such a terrible excuse for a bedfellow?”

“How…how did you know my name?” I looked at his hand, and then back at his face. His smiled widened, and one brow arched, and I knew not to trust him. 

“I deduced it from our friend, Danny. He was…quite vocal at the end.” He tilted his head, looking at me as if he were trying to make some kind of decision.

“I didn’t hear you talking.” My shaking intensified.

“I don’t need words to communicate, little one.” The stranger crouched down in front of me, his dark eyes searching my face, and he sobered. His eyes raked over me, dark and calculating. HIs head lifted, and his eyes held mine. “Did he hurt you?”

I shook my head that he hadn’t, and the man’s lips quirked up in another lazy smile.

“Very good.” He reached out, and plucked a leaf from my hair, startling me when his cold fingers brushed my ear. His eyes widened. “I won’t hurt you, I give you my word.”

“How do I know that? And what did you do to Danny?” I looked past him, to where my boyfriend had last been. The man's smile faded, but just a bit, as if I’d bothered him. 

“Oh, my dear, you mustn’t worry your head over boys. Danny boy won’t be bothering you, or anyone else, for that matter. Ever again.” He stood, holding his hand out again and waggling his fingers at me. “Now come. You wouldn’t want to catch your death out here.”

I disregarded his hand and stood of my own accord, wiping the behind of my jeans off with my hand, my eyes never leaving the stranger. He was dressed very…fancy-like, was the only way I could describe it. A dark suit, with a vest underneath layered over a dark shirt, and dark, shiny shoes. What was he doing out here in the woods, dressed this way? It was almost midnight! I tried to ignore every image of every episode of every serial killer show I’d ever watched, reminding myself that that was just TV and this was real life, and everything was fine, right? It was fine! I reached back for my phone, and found it was gone. Shit.

My panic started rising again. I looked around, frantically. The lights from the cabins were so far away, who would hear me out here? Oh god...

I looked back at the stranger, and saw he was still standing there, with that look on his face, only now he was tapping a finger against his lips. I swallowed, and tugged my hoodie around my shoulders, righting it self-consciously. He looked like my dad trying to decide which fishing pole to buy from the pawn shop, only I was the fishing pole. My heart thumped in my chest. Was he a trafficker? Was I about to be kidnapped? Oh god!!

The man’s eyes widened, then narrowed, and he tilted his head as if he were listening to something. I don’t know what, because I couldn’t hear anything. My heart pounded against my ribs like a drum. 

“Are you a cop?” I continued, though I somehow instinctively knew he was no cop. His silence was unnerving me, though.

“No.” He let out a breath, and placed his hands in his pockets as he stared back at me, looking very casual and very out of place. And now, very relaxed, as if whatever decision he was contemplating, he’d finally decided upon. 

“Someone’s dad?” I looked around again. “The others are up at the cabin, I’m sure. They’ll come looking for my any minute.” I lied. I looked back at him. “Who are you looking for?”

His eyes intensified as he stepped closer, seeming to glow with some new light. He was now close enough that I could see the individual hairs on his chin, and the slight shadow of a beard on his jaw. The chest hair that rested at the base of his neck, revealed by the two loosed buttons of his shirt. I was scared out of my mind. He felt dangerous. Dark and brooding and…very, very dangerous. I swallowed. He reached out, and tucked a stray strand of my hair back behind my ear, and I saw from my peripheral, that his nails were long and pointed. When I looked back at him, he was doing that half-smile thing again. The hairs on the back of my neck stood, and my skin erupted with goosebumps at his words.

“I was looking for you, sweet Sarah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't even know what to say about this monstrosity. 
> 
> Just look at his face. Blame him.


	2. Chapter 2

I watched him. He watched me. Only I was terrified, and he seemed so annoyingly calm.

“Looking for me? Why? Did my dad send you?” 

The stranger huffed out a laugh, and then looked away, his fingers lazily toying with his chin. He looked back at me, pinning me with that same deep gaze. “In a way, yes.” He moved closer. “Did you know your father enjoyed hitting you? That he relished it. That it gave him some kind of…twisted pleasure just thinking about it. That he couldn’t wait to leave his job and come home to you. You who reminded him so much of his beautiful wife. Did you know that?”

“My father was…is—” I stumbled over my words, trying to absorb what he was telling me, and finding it so hard. _My mother?_

“Your father was a terrible person.” The stranger held up a finger and finished my sentence, that same annoying smirk on his face. “ _Was_ being the operative word.”

“What did you do to my dad?” I felt tears roll down my cheeks, already knowing that the answer would be. Somehow, I just knew that I’d never see him again. I dashed my tears away, infuriated, and not wanting to cry in front of this man. I knew my father was a bad man. The worst kind. I'd known that for so long, but he was all I had left from my family after my mother died, and if anyone was going to kill him, it should’ve been me. I hated that man with every fiber of my being, but hearing that he was dead was shocking to say the least. I felt my hands start shaking, tingling with panic and unease. 

“You are angry with me. I can tell.” The man placed a hand at my shoulder. “It’ll pass.” 

Without thinking, I swung my balled-up fist and connected with his stomach, and I immediately howled with pain. It was as if I’d hit a brick wall. The stranger tutted, shaking his head at me. I fell to my knees, clutching my wounded hand and cried harder. 

“You mustn’t do that, little one.” He leaned over, hands on his knees, and peered at me. “It never works out the way one would like.” 

“Who are you? And what do you want with me?” 

“Your grandmother and your namesake, Sarah Ann, was my housekeeper for many years while in London.” The stranger smiled. “She asked that I look after you, and I have been for many years. From afar. But now, you’re doing things that are making it difficult to do so from so far away. And your father, well I simply couldn't stand by and watch that travesty unfold any longer." He stood and pushed his hands back in his pockets as he regarded me. “You are turning out to be quite the handful, actually.”

“Look, I don’t know who you are, but I don’t need you to do anything for me. I have a home, and I have my dad. And I need to be going.” I slowly stood, feeling super stupid and super awkward. 

“Well, I can assure you, you don’t have a father any longer, and if you’d like to remain in that long boxy thing you call a home, I assume I can arrange that for you. Otherwise, you’ll do as your grandmother wished, and come with me. To live in my home.” He produced some folded papers from his inside his vest, and shook them lightly at me. “Everything’s in order. And your father, the devil rest his soul, has so graciously provided his signature allowing your custody to fall into my very capable hands. At least until you're old enough to be on your own.” 

“What?” My mouth was hanging open in shock. I glared at the papers, and then at him as I held out my hand. “Give them to me.” 

He tilted his head and smiled, tucking the papers back inside his pocket. He held his hand out, again. “All in due time, little one. Now, please, come with me so that we can collect your things. I imagine the police will be there before too long, and we certainly don’t want to take part in that fiasco.”

* * *

I don’t know why I took his hand that day, or why I so easily allowed him to deposit me in his car, and I have no idea why I allowed him to accompany me to my home to collect whatever items I felt I needed. As I walked in, he forbade me to go to my dad’s side of the trailer, and I obeyed. I don’t know why, to this day. I simply packed my things up, what little I had, and grabbed a family photo on the way out the door. From that moment on, I was in his care, and would reside with him in one of his homes here on the island so that I could remain in my school until I graduated. For the rest of my young life and well into adulthood, I never wanted for anything. I had cars, phones, clothes, money…you name it. Anything I wanted, I had it. I went from being the poor daughter of a drunken truck driver to probably the richest kid on the island. All in a matter of days. 

He never gave me a name, and I don’t know why I never thought to ask. Maybe because my head was spinning so fast that day, or maybe because I was grieving a life I always wanted to be free of, or maybe it was because I was personally on the edge of a nervous breakdown. I didn’t know. He was there, and then he was gone, and I was alone. I hardly ever saw my new guardian, save for when he first took me, and for the first day back at his home on Galveston's east end. He almost immediately turned me over to the care of a nanny – which I absolutely didn’t need, and which I had decided we’d call a mentor. The only other people I ever saw were the housekeeping staff, and one in particular I spent a great deal of time with. It was from her I learned exactly who I was living with.

I’d never forget that conversation for as long as I lived, her words hushed lest someone hear us. 

“I just don’t understand why he’s never here for very long!” I grumbled as I flopped over on the bed and whined up at the ceiling. 

“He is very good to us, Sarah. To all of us, and you shouldn’t complain!” Miss Angie chastised as she collected up my clothing from my floor. She had been with me since the very first day and I looked at her like she was my mother. Feeling guilty, I crawled off the bed and started helping her, understanding it was her job, but knowing it was my mess. I lay down on the floor and pulled socks from under the bed. 

“I’m not saying that he isn’t. It’s just that I never see him. I don’t know what to tell people at school, so I just say I’m staying with my rich uncle. And you know what I call him?” I turned to Angie and grinned. “Uncle Owen. Like Owen from Star Wars, ‘cause I’m legitimately like Luke, just dropped off with someone that I don’t even know, except this is an island and not Tatooine.” 

At first, Angie’s eyes widened, and then she burst into a fit of giggles, and I followed. The two of us sat on my bed, giggling for a few moments, when Angie sobered again. She reached for my hand and clasped it in hers, tightly. 

“Listen very carefully to what I’m going to tell you, and you have to swear that you won’t repeat it, do you hear?” She leaned in to whisper. “To anyone. Not even to the count. He mustn’t know I told you.”

“The count?” I giggled again, a mixture of unease and laughter. “Like Count Dracula?” 

Angie’s face sobered, all humor gone, and she nodded. “One and the same.” 

I laughed again, but when I saw Angie wasn’t following, I swallowed. Hard. “Are you seriously gonna tell me Uncle Owen's a vampire?”

“Not just a vampire, but _the vampire_. The stories, the books, it’s all true.” Angie’s face was dead-serious. My eyes narrowed. 

“I’ve seen him walk outside. The first day we got back here, he walked out back and took a call on his cell. In the sun. Explain that.” I crossed my arms over my chest, and waited. Angie shrugged. 

“I guess some of it’s made up and some isn’t. He has no problem with the sun, though he does prefer to be asleep during the day and conduct business at night.” 

“And by conduct business, you mean drink people’s blood?” I snapped, feeling so stupid and childish. _How did Angie think I was this_ _dumb?_ I started grabbing wads of homework and tossing them in the trashcan, anything to ease my aggravation. I was so sick of being treated like a child and now to hear this bullshit? I was almost 16 for crying out loud! In 5 more days, I was to have my birthday party, and I was still being treated like an ignorant child! Angie stood up. 

“What do you think happened to your father, Sarah? To your boyfriend. That night, what do you think happened?” She came closer. “Did you not wonder? Or did you know, and you were just too afraid to ask? To afraid to accept it for what it was and what it is?” 

“I read about vampires in _Twilight_ , and I’ve watched _True Blood_!!” I snapped again as I slammed a dresser drawer shut. “I don’t live with them, because they are not real!” I slammed another drawer, and then my closet. Angie held her hands up to calm me. 

“Please, Sarah, you need to calm down. Stop slamming things!” She looked over her shoulder, frantically. “Please, he’s here, and he’ll hear you!” 

“I don’t care if he’s here!” I yelled at the top of my lungs. “Uncle Owen! Can you hear me?” I slammed my closet door again and again, rattling the mirror on it, when my door slowly opened wide.

A tall figure cast a shadow on my floor. Angie immediately dropped her head to her chest, but I was undeterred. I grinned at him in the doorway. I hadn’t seen him since the first time he’d left, almost 8 months ago. He was stood there, similarly dressed in what I remembered him wearing the first time, a dark suit with a dark vest over a crisp, white shirt. He looked very annoyed.

And I was past the point of caring; I needed answers. 

“Ah, Uncle Owen. Nice to see you’ve made it back home.” I stepped forward, crossing my arms over my chest. “Or should I call you Count Dracula?" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I hope this is making some sense. Sarah is being a typical bratty teen and she needs all the answers right now haha
> 
> And I too so many liberties with the changing of custody, 'cause it's not real life, okay? 
> 
> Please be nice HAHAHA


	3. Chapter 3

My guardian's jaw hardened, and he stepped into the room. “Angie, you’re done for the evening. Please leave.”

Angie nodded and quickly left the room, leaving us alone. The man, Uncle Owen or Dracula or whatever he was called, closed the door behind him, and leaned against it, his hands folded together at his waist. 

“Well, well, well,” he began, but I cut him off with a wave of my hand.

“Look, if you’re going to come up here with some _‘I’m Dracula’ bullshit',_ you can just fuck off to wherever it was before, and leave me alone.” I turned away from him and grabbed my phone and AirPods. Music blasted in my ear for barely two seconds when I was hauled up by my upper arms. The man dragged me to the mirror on my closet door, and stood us before it. The phone dropped out of my hand when I saw only my reflection staring back at me. I turned around to look at him, though I knew he was there; He was still holding me against his chest, his hands clutching my upper arms as if I'd been caught in a vice-grip. 

“Now do you see it?” he murmured at my ear, causing chills to erupt on my skin. 

“I don’t see anything.” 

“Exactly my point.” He released me, and I quickly moved away from him to stand in the far corner by my closet door. He smirked. 

“Where does this fear come from now? When a few moments ago, you were screaming the whole house down.” He snatched at his jaw. "And telling me to fuck off. Do you know, I can't recall anyone ever telling me that." 

“You don’t have a reflection,” I mumbled. “How…how is that possible?” 

He turned dark eyes on me again, pinning me with his gaze. 

“You know exactly how that’s possible, yet you refuse to believe it, even now?” He approached me, slowly. “Would you like me to show you? To convince you of who and what I am?” He made his way across the room and stood inches from me. So close that I became dizzy with the smell of his cologne. “Shall I take you out to dinner, Sarah? My kind of dinner, where I spend my time taking my fill of who I want?" 

I shook my head from side to side, my heart palpitating wildly inside my chest. 

“Good.” He stepped back, tucking his hands in his pockets. 

“Are you going to kill me?” I was whispering. 

“If you call me Uncle Owen again, I just might.” The man quirked up a brow, and after a few seconds of me not breathing, I believed that he was joking, and I relaxed. If just imperceptibly. 

“You never told me your name, so I had to come up with something,” I shrugged helplessly, my cheeks heating with embarrassment. 

“You’re a clever girl. I’m surprised that’s all you managed to come up with.” He walked over to my desk and thumbed through some drawings. “These are good, Sarah.” He looked at me and gave a kind smile. “You are very talented.” 

“Okay, can we stop talking about that, and focus on what is important?” I was so impatient. The man turned to me, giving me his full attention once more. 

“To answer your unspoken question, yes, I’m a vampire. I’ve been a vampire for almost 600 years now. I lived overseas most of my life, and had only just come to America after your grandmother passed. She asked me to look after you.” He tapped at his lips with his fingers. “You see, she was a very valuable friend to me, your grandmother. And I wanted to repay her kindness. After that fiasco with the Harker Foundation, and drinking some very tainted blood, I almost died. Had it not been for your grandmother supplying my… _sustenance_ …I most likely would have perished right there in my own home.” 

“She never said anything about you.” I sat down on my bed, crossing my legs in front of me and clutching a pillow to my breasts. 

“And why would she? No one believes the old legends anymore.” He shrugged as he looked at some posters on my wall. Bowie, Queen, Marilyn Manson. He pointed at the last one. "Odd looking fellow." He leaned closer, squinting. "Is that makeup he's wearing?' 

“Yes, he wears makeup for his shows. And a lot of the time, just because he wants to." I hastily explained, reminding myself we needed to be talking about _him,_ and not _Manson!_ "Vampires are kind of a big deal right now. Have you seen some of the stuff that’s out there? I mean, we have _Twilight, Underworld? True Blood?_ ” 

The man turned to me, and a bemused smile played at his lips. “Yes, I’ve seen it. Glittering vampires? Really?” 

“You don’t sparkle in the sunlight?” I teased him, feeling more relaxed than ever. I surreptitiously looked at him from under my lashes, seeing him in a new light. He was handsome for an older guy, even with his forehead wrinkles and weathered face. Like, if he was someone’s dad, I’d definitely say he was hot. For an older guy. Dark hair cut close at his nape, styled minimally. He was very tall, very lean, and so self-assured to almost be considered arrogant. The way he moved around my room, so confident in himself and his surroundings. I would look back on this day as the moment when I would start seeing Count Dracula as more than just my guardian. 

“No, Sarah, I don’t believe I sparkle in the sunlight” – he grinned – “Or anywhere else, for that matter.” He walked over to the end of my bed and motioned to it. “May I?”

I nodded, and he sat down at the end, looking so completely out of place in my room that was an amalgamation of different shades of purple and other crazy colors and childish stuffed animals and rock posters. He drew one long leg up and tucked his knee so that he could recline a bit, and looked at me. “Go on, then. Ask away. I know you’re dying to interrogate me.” 

“Well, I’m not _dying_ to do anything,” I giggled nervously, and he gave a huff of a laugh. 

For the next hour, I would ask him everything I could imagine. What he ate, and how? _Whenever he was hungry, and in whatever way he_ _saw fit._ How did he decide on his victims? _Very carefully,_ he answered. Could he go out during the day? _Absolutely._ Did he sleep in a coffin? _He preferred a bed with the curtains drawn._ Did he have any special powers? _Living forever was not enough,_ he'd grinned, replying with a question of his own. Did he have a wife? _Not at the moment._ Any kids? _Not that he knew of._ Why hadn’t he killed me or the staff? _Because we were his family_ , he’d softly replied. 

“Are you satisfied, or do we need to continue?” He asked me, giving a soft smile that made him seem so much younger. Almost boyish. It was the first time I remembered blushing around him, though I knew that surely I had before.

“So I can’t call you Uncle Owen anymore?” 

He laughed. “I’d rather you didn’t, but trust me, I’ve been called worse.” 

“Then what do I call you?” My eyes held his, and for the first time, I saw just how dark they were, how almost inky black the iris was. So very different from my very boring brown eyes. 

He leaned forward, and tapped a finger on the tip of my nose. “Call me Dracula, everyone else does. My given name is Vlad, so you may call me that as well, though it's no less...odd, I suppose. It's an old name, and I am not the first to claim it as mine.” 

I snickered. “I can’t call you Dracula. What am I supposed to go to school and be like ‘my Uncle Dracula is calling me, oh sorry!’ That sounds ridiculous.” 

“Then what do you propose, little one?” He leaned back on his forearm, lounged across the foot of my bed. “I leave it in your very capable hands.” 

“How about Dee? Like, short for Dracula. I could call you Sunny D, since you can go out in the sun after all!" I laughed at my own joke for far too long before I realized he wasn't laughing with me. In fact, he appeared to be glaring at me. I got serious really fast, wiping the smile from my face. "Or it would have to be Vlad, I guess.” 

“Vlad. It's been so long, though. Vlad....Vlad will do." Dracula murmured the words a few times, rolling it around in his mouth for taste. Then he nodded. “Very well.” He stood up, adjusting his clothing, and held out a hand to me.

For the second time in my life, I placed my much smaller hand into his much larger one, and he pulled me up next to him. He placed a hand at my chin, and gently tilted my face up so that I could see his eyes. He really was so very tall, so tall that I had to tip backwards just to see him. 

“Now, can you relax, knowing everything you know, and knowing that all will be taken care of?”

“I live with a vampire. Like the father of all vampires. How could I not be relaxed?” I grinned cheekily, and for a moment, something passed over Dracula’s face, some emotion that I’ve never seen before. It was gone just as quickly as it appeared. 

“I can’t stress enough how closely you must guard my secret, little one.” He traced the apple of my cheek with his thumb. “It’d be a shame to have to dispatch of those with knowledge they need not have been privy to. Do you understand clearly what I’m saying?” 

“I understand.” 

“Very good.” He released me and clapped his hands together. “Now, I believe your birthday is coming up soon. Are you ready for the party? Is everyone coming that you've invited?” 

“I don’t know if I should have a party now,” I grimaced. “I mean, are you sure? It’s a pool party, so lots of bodies and… _stuff_ …” 

The vampire - _No Vlad, I reminded myself!_ \- laughed, a deep rumble in his chest. “Look, I’ll be absent that night if it makes you feel better?” 

“No, you don’t have to do that. It’s your home. I just don’t want you to…eat my friends, is all.” My face bloomed with color, and Dracula stepped closer to me. So much uncomfortable blushing...gosh...

“It’s your home as well, little one. And I promise to not eat any of your friends.” He placed a hand at his heart, and then leaned down to whisper: “Unless you tell me to.” 

Count Dracula, or Vlad - _whatever I chose to call him_ \- left me that night with a myriad of unanswered questions running amok in my feverish little overanalyzing teenage brain. How was this possible? Why me? I mean, I know what he'd said about my grandmother, but still, why me? And this talk between us, yes he was my guardian, but I would be lying if I didn't admit that his softness, his kindness, his so very-male way of being stirred up something in me. Call it teenage hormones, or whatever, but it was there. I worried my fingernail long into the night, replaying our conversation over and over. I probably had daddy issues. Yes, that's what it was, daddy issues. I mean, who didn't have a crush on a vampire at some point in their life? I was just lucky enough _(or unlucky enough, I hadn't decided which yet)_ to have one living with me, so it would be completely normal that I might start feeling some kind of way. Right? _Right??_

I would look back on this conversation and that night, and realize that this was the exact moment my crush on Count Dracula began...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgive my sense of humor. I really think Sarah we be so bratty, you know, 15ish and all. And who doesn't have a crush on Dracula, or vampires in general? 
> 
> I promise no underage stuff is going to happen here, but I want to remind everyone that Dracula probably doesn't care about underage anything, so...
> 
> And I had to include Marilyn Manson, as his song inspired this fic hahahaha!


	4. Chapter 4

The next few days went by in a flurry, with all the preparation for my birthday taking up so much time. Never in a million years had I thought that I would have one of those birthday parties that you see on television, the over the top and way too lavish 'sweet sixteens'. But I did, and it was more than I ever dreamed of. It seemed like the whole island was here, and it was definitely more than I’d invited, so I could only assume that Vlad had something to do with it. The birthday went on for hours, the pool party was a hit, and the local band playing music was everything I could have ever wanted. Well, except for Marilyn Manson to show up… _in person._ That would have been great, but whatever. 

In honor of turning 16 and getting my actual license, Vlad bought me a new Mustang, purple of course, with black, leather seats, complete with all the upgrades. My friend, Sofia and I, took it for a spin to the cheers of all my friends and who I now considered family. Vlad looked incredibly proud of himself, and I was incredibly happy. After the car, he left and went to where I didn't know. The party eventually wound down, and only a few remained: Sofia, Jennifer, and Chloe, as well as a few boys, Kevin, Ethan, and Aiden. Aiden, I was particularly fond of, and may have a had a bit of a crush on, so I was very happy that he’d decided to stay over in the pool house. Another benefit of having a vampire as your guardian, I supposed: no stupid rules about no boys in the house. 

Once all the others left, the seven of us had disappeared out back to get in the pool, and that was when Kevin produced a bottle of tequila. Now, I knew that alcohol was not allowed for kids my age, even as mature as I was, but it was my birthday, right? I was only gonna turn 16 once, and so I decided, to hell with it, and let loose. Shot after shot we did, until we were all very, very wasted. Well, them more than me, because I literally couldn't stomach the stuff, and started to get sick way before I should have. At some point after 10pm, Kevin and Chloe had disappeared somewhere, while Ethan and Sofia were currently making out on one of the pool loungers. Jennifer was softly snoring in the chair right next to them, her phone clutched against her chest. I stumbled around, grabbing towels and trying to dry off, when I felt Aiden wrap his arms around me, and pull me back into his chest. I stiffened, the memory of the last boy that did that to me popping up in my head and triggering all the worst feelings. 

“Let me go,” I told him, firmly. Aiden laughed in my ear, and turned me around in his arms so that my chest was pressed to his. We were only wearing our bathing suits, and through the thin fabric, I could feel his erection pressed at my stomach. I swallowed, bile rising in my throat again. I pushed at his chest, but he wouldn’t let go. 

“Aiden, stop fucking around. Let. Me. Go.” I pushed at him again, and again he ignored me with a laugh. 

“You stop fucking around, Sarah!” Aiden pressed his mouth against my forehead as he squeezed me. “You and I know the only reason you invited me here was for this, so why are you acting so weird now?” 

“I didn’t invite you for this, Aiden!” I wiggled away from him, finally. I wrapped the towel around my body and hugged myself to ward off the chill. 

“Well what the fuck then? Did you just want me to spend the night with you, like some lame-ass slumber party?” Aiden approached again, his hands flung wide with his anger. I started screaming at him, and he at me.

* * *

_From upstairs, Dracula watched out of his window, his form concealed in shadows. His jaw clenched, his fists squeezed tight together as he watched the interaction between Sarah and this boy. He scowled. Was this all boys were interested in? Surely there was more to life than this constant need for sex. It was taking everything in him to not go downstairs and destroy this boy just like he’d done Sarah’s last boyfriend, but he’d promised her that he wouldn’t interfere in her little party. That he’d be on his best behavior._

_He was not the praying sort, but he hoped, with all his might that this boy would leave, 'ere he had to go down and kill him like he had the last one._

* * *

We argued for some time, until eventually, Aiden got fed up, and he, Ethan, Sofia, and Jennifer all left the party. I was left there, alone on my birthday, sat by the pool feeling entirely pathetic. 

I wiped at my eyes, feeling so stupid and so very sorry for myself. The seat next to me dipped as someone sat down. 

“Are you alright?” 

“Go away, Vlad,” I whispered, turning from him and giving him my back. 

“You should be thanking me that I didn’t come down here and take care of that boy myself,” the vampire returned. There was a slight edge to his voice, an unmistakable grit to his normally-lilting accent. 

“You saw?” I asked, sniffling again. 

“And heard. You forget, I have excellent hearing.” Vlad reached over and tapped the empty tequila bottle with the toe of his boot. The bottle fell over and rolled away. “And aren’t you a little young to be drinking? 21, I believe is the age limit.” 

“Are you, a vampire, seriously going to lecture me about drinking things I shouldn’t?” 

“Touché,” Vlad replied. I could hear the smile in his voice. 

“And I didn’t bring it, Kevin did. And I didn’t really drink. It makes me sick.” I tugged at the towel, drawing up my knees so I could rest my chin on them. "I can't even drink like a normal person." 

“So, I take it they are gone?” Vlad looked around, and saw that the chairs were all empty. I shrugged. 

“Pretty sure Kevin and Chloe are still in the…uhhh… pool room.” My cheeks heated with the unspoken, and Vlad chuckled. 

“For all your pretense, you are still so naïve, aren’t you? That the mere mention of intercourse should bring the most delightful of blushes to your cheeks.” 

“Is that your fancy way of saying I’m an immature idiot?” I grumbled, feeling shame wash over me again at how inept I was. Especially around him. 

“Oh, quite the contrary, little one. It’s refreshing, indeed, to see a person of your age not already... awash with sin,” Vlad leaned over towards me, and dipped his head so that he could meet my eyes, and he smiled. Playfully. 

“Huh,” I mumbled, wiping at my nose again, not believing him at all. 

“I am sorry your party didn’t go as you hoped.” 

“My party was fine. It’s just, why does everything have to come with some kind of strings attached?” I started crying again, straight-up ugly crying, and before I knew it, Vlad had pulled me back and tucked me at his side. I sat there, hugged to his hard form, and cried. His hand at my shoulder, and the other at my cheek, as he murmured soft words of consolation against my hair. 

“He’s a boy, little one. One day, when you get older, you’ll find someone to treat you better. To treat you how you deserve to be treated.” 

“Is that true though?” I cried harder, remembering my father. “My dad was an asshole. He beat my mother so much that she killed herself. That’s what happened, whether he wanted to believe it or not!” My hands were shaking, my fists balled up with repressed rage that had never been allowed to come out. No school counselor had heard this, no community ageny had ever heard this from me. No one but Vlad, and deep down, I unloaded it on him because I knew because he could take it. 

“Your father was a terrible man, Sarah, and I am sorry for your lot in having to have him for so long.” He turned me, cupping my face with his large hands, and smiled. “But not all men are that way, though they are few and far between.” 

“So, like what, are you a good guy?” I asked, my voice a mere whisper. I was fixated on his eyes, on the way the lights from the house reflected back at me in their murky depths. 

“Hardly.” He leaned forward, his eyes narrowing just a bit. “I’m probably the worst kind there is.” 

Maybe it was my drunkenness. Or maybe it was my teenage hormones, or maybe it was my naivety, although I’m pretty sure it was nothing more than my huge, completely-inexplicable crush I had seemingly developed overnight on him, but I did the dumbest thing in the world right then and there, and pressed my lips to Vlad’s, seeking a kiss. I kissed him. His eyes popped open wide, and I saw that they did, because, like the inexperienced idiot I was, mine were still open wide as well. He pushed me back from him with what sounded like a snarl, and I fell back onto the lounger. Vlad stood up, wiping a hand over his face as if he were wiping away any remamnts of my lips. I started crying harder at the dejection. 

“Are you insane? What the hell are you doing?” Vlad snapped at me. He started pacing, his hands on his hips as he walked back and forth in front of me. I started sobbing, clutching the towel to my breasts and pulling it up to my chin. With a sigh, Vlad stopped in front of me, and knelt down. His hands rested on either side of my thighs.

“Sarah, listen. I’m sorry I snapped at you like that, but you cannot do that with me. Never with me, do you understand?” Vlad reached up to caress my cheek, but I turned away, still awash with embarrassment. He sighed again, dropping his hand as he stood back up. 

“You know what I am, don’t you?” His voice was soft as he peered down at me. “A monster. And you are much too young, little one. There are things about this world that you have no concept about, terrible things. People are terrible, and will do terrible things if you let them.” 

“Yeah, no shit!” I snapped at him, finally finding my voice. I was so mad. Mad at him. Mad at myself. Mad at my stupid life. _Just mad._ I jumped up, and pushed my way past him with a shove at his shoulder, and ran upstairs. I slammed my door, and cried myself to sleep in my pillow. 

* * *

Vlad paced his room, one hand in his pocket, and the other wiping at his jaw. Occasionally, and perhaps subconsciously, he would run his fingers over his lips, remembering the feel of sweetness pressed against him. The warmth of innocence. How it had snaked down his icy body like tendrils of the sun, reminding him of all the good that was still left in this world. He traced his mouth again, remembering. Remembering the scent of alcohol mixed with vanilla and cinnamon, the forbidden and the unforbidden. He sighed and walked back over to his window to stare down at the spot where _it_ had happened, and he remembered. 

He was no mortal man, and was certainly not constrained by the laws of this land, or of any land. A meal was a meal, and blood was blood, whether it came from an infant or a geriatric. _But Sarah_ …he mused…. _Sarah was forbidden._ The most forbidden type, and he would do well to remember that. He had made a promise to her grandmother, one bound in blood, and dare he say faith, and he meant to keep that promise that he’d made. If he never kept another promise, he would keep this one. To see her to adulthood, and to provide her with every opportunity that he’d sworn he would. And then his commitment would end, and she and he would both be free. He was trying to do better, to be better, as much as his being would allow. If he was fated to walk this earth for eternity, he was determined to do it with at least some modicum of decorum. And this one thing, he wanted with all his might for it to come to fruition, maybe just to prove to himself that he could do it. That he wasn't a mindless beast. A monster incapable of basic things.

He sat down in his chair with a weary sigh, his hands clasped at his thighs. 

He only hoped he could manage to get her there, unscathed, and unharmed, by him or anyone else…


	5. Chapter 5

The years came and went, with Vlad being as absent a ‘father’ figure as he could manage. Sarah never complained about it, and when she did see him, it was as cordial as could be. She was polite, he was polite. They were polite to each other. Neither ever mentioned the conversation – _or the kiss_ – by the pool, and it was easy at some point to pretend that maybe it never happened. Maybe, easier for her than for him, because for his part, that night was seared into his brain. As if he’d gotten a taste of something that he wanted more of but knew he could never, ever have. That fact didn’t ease the desire. Not one bit, and probably made it the more worse. It was why he insisted on staying away, of making sure he had as little contact with her as possible. 

On the night of Sarah’s graduation from high school, Vlad was there to congratulate his ward. She had been accepted to Louisiana State University, where she would be attending in the summer, and therefore only had a short time left here on the island before she had to leave. Now, with less than a week left, Vlad was unsure of how he felt about that. About truly letting her go. Never to see her again. Something had changed in the time they’d been together, as much as he tried to hold himself apart from her. He had changed. His feelings had changed as he’d watched her grow into this beautiful young woman that resided in his home. Gone were the days when she came to him looking like a lost fawn, all legs and elbows and knobby knees, fast on the heels of late puberty. At the time, he’d seen her as a pet. Something cute that he needed to take care of. To nurture, as best as he could and allow it to grow.

Now, Sarah was a striking young woman. Dark, naturally curly hair that she let dry in the sun, only tamed when she felt the desire to do so. Her skin was tanned by the beach, and her figure could only be described as voluptuous. And her eyes, heaven above him, but he could spend all day staring into those hazel eyes of hers. The way the brown almost became translucent in the sun, and the way the flecks of green were enhanced when she was wearing certain clothes. The way they glittered when she laughed, and how they swam with tears when she was sad. Just like her, her eyes changed with every emotion. 

He swallowed as he made his way upstairs to her room to say good night. He rapped on the door. 

* * *

I opened the door, and there he was. I’d only seen him a handful of times since that night, and absolutely everything about him was the same. I had changed, though. I had grown up. Learned many hard life lessons on the way and had matured. Far beyond my years, it seemed. Physically, I was also very different from when I’d first come here. My hair, it was all natural now. No longer did I try to fight my natural curls with a flatiron. My weight had fluctuated, and while I wasn’t necessarily fat, I was curvier than I liked. My breasts had miraculously appeared overnight from my Junior to senior year, and my hips were too wide. Maybe I was an inch taller. But he, he was the same. So sure of himself and who he was, and still as devastatingly handsome as I remembered. I smiled, opening my door wider and he stepped in. His hands were in his pockets as usual. 

“Hello!” I smiled, stepping closer to give him a hug. He wrapped his long arms around me, and pulled me in, enveloping me in his cologne. I sniffed. “You smell good. What is that?” 

Vlad pulled back and smiled down at me. “Something Angie picked up for me. You know I have no idea what I should be wearing as far as scent goes. Do you like it?” 

I smoothed down his collar where my head had messed it up, patting it against his chest, and gave another smile. “Yes, it’s very you.” 

“Very me?” Vlad cocked an eyebrow, and my smile grew to a grin. 

“Very dark and mysterious, but still manly and rugged. And soothing. Calming. Warm.” 

“Me? Soothing and calming?” Vlad snorted. “Well, clearly I’m wearing the wrong stuff, because I am hardly soothing.” He seemed properly offended, and I couldn’t help but laugh. I watched as he walked around my room, always stopping at my desk, and looking at my drawings. He picked one up, smiling when he saw it was a picture of a pelican sat upon a pilon. “You always loved pelicans, didn’t you?” 

“Still do.” I replied as I walked over to him and crossed my arms at my chest. He picked up another picture, and in the process, revealed one I may not have wanted him to see. It was him, his back to the artist, suited up and looking as proper as ever, his hands in his pockets as he stared out the window. The sun was setting in the background, casting shadows on the whole of the picture. I reached over and plucked it from his hands, embarrassed, and tucked it away under another pile. 

“It’s a lovey picture, little one.” 

“Yeah, well, that was from a long time ago.” 

Vlad turned to me, an easy smile on his face, as he pulled something from his pocket. A card. He handed it to me. 

“This is from your grandmother. I was instructed to give it to you upon your graduation from high school, and not a moment before.” Vlad walked away, pacing as he did so. “She wanted you to know some things, about you and your father, and your mother, and her.” He turned around seeing that I was stood there, looking down at the card with tears in my eyes. “I have no idea what’s in that card, so you will be just as surprised as I will be.” He chuckled. “Leave it to your grandmother to pull off such a feat as a secret letter.” 

I looked up at him, my eyes glossy, and asked the question I had been dying to ask for so very long. “Did you love my grandmother?” 

“No,” Vlad answered plainly. “Not in the way you see on television, or in your books, but I cared for her. As she cared for me.” He walked over to me, and gave a sweet smile. “We cared for each other in the only way possible.” 

I looked back down at the card, and felt a tear trickle down my cheek. I quickly dashed it away with my hand. I had nothing from my family. I hadn’t seen my grandmother but a handful of times, though she always wrote me letters of encouragement. Many times as a kid, I would lie awake at night, pretending that one day, my grandmother would come from overseas and take me away, and I’d be happy and loved and taken care of. That I’d have a house and food and clothes that didn’t smell like urine and alcohol. That I wouldn’t get beaten for things I’d never done, and blamed for things out of my control. I sniffled, realizing that that very thing had happened, in some manner. Although it was not the way in which I wanted, was it not still the same concept? 

“I also have this for you, little one. It’s my gift. My…congratulations on having come so far and through so much.” Vlad produced a small box. He pushed it forward, and I accepted. A smile broke out on my face. 

“Tiffany’s?” 

“I hear all the girls love it, so I thought you might as well.” He winked at me, then nodded at the box. “Open it.” 

I opened it, and found a silver chain, with a charm on it, and then a bracelet, set in the same fashion. On the necklace, there was an anchor charm. And on the bracelet, a charm in the shape of a pelican. I started giggling between my tears. Vlad smiled. 

“The anchor, so you remember us. And the pelican, well, because you are so fond of them.” His eyes met mine. “Do you like them?” 

I smiled, nodding my head, because my words had escaped me. Sure, he had bought me so many things over the years, but I had never been given something of such significance. I held the box out to him. “Will you help me put them on?” 

“Love to.” Vlad took the box from me, and I turned around and lifted my hair off my neck. A moment later, I felt his cool fingers touch the back of my neck as he adjusted the clasp. I shivered as his fingers lingered on my skin, the sensation sending a chill through my entire body. His voice was at my ear when he silkily whispered, “Turn around.” 

I turned around, heart beating wildly, and came face to face with him. His eyes had grown dark, and something warm unfurled in the pit of my stomach. 

His eyes never left mine. “Give me your hand.” 

Never looking away from his eyes, I offered my hand and he took it in his, enveloping me with his coolness. Another shiver. Another frantic pitter-patter of my heart against my sternum. And did his eyes darken even further? I swallowed. 

He placed the bracelet on my wrist, and again, I felt like his fingers lingered against my skin for longer than was necessary, but I didn’t complain. I wanted his touch. I had craved his touch for as long as I’d known him, though I knew he’d never reciprocate. He’d always said as much, and even now that I was old enough by today’s standards, I was still naïve and stupid in his eyes. He pulled my hand up and pressed a sweet kiss on the back of it. 

“Beautiful.” 

“Thank you, Vlad,” I whispered. “I love them. And I’ll never take them off.” I reached up on my tip-toes and pressed a sweet kiss at his cheek, and I also lingered longer than I should have. I wanted to feel the roughness of his cheek against mine, to commit to memory how he felt and how he smelled, because I was sure I’d never see him after I left this home. After a few moments, I stepped back and again, smoothed his collar down at his chest. My throat felt so tight, and I found it hard to find words pitched higher than a whisper. 

“I’m gonna miss you.” 

“And I you,” Vlad rejoined. “But, the school is not far away. It’s not as if you’re moving to another country.” He smiled, and when I looked at him, it seemed a sad smile. Not quite reaching his eyes, and inside my chest, I felt a painful clench. 

“No, it’s not, but I’ll be busy.” I ducked my head and turned away from him, lest he see how sad I was. “Vlad, look, I know I’ve been a royal pain in the ass to you, and I nothing I can say will ever make you understand how much you’ve done for me, but thank you. For everything.” I wiped at the corner of my eyes. “Thank you for taking care of me. And for giving me everything you did.” I turned around, and faced him, my spine steeled for my next words. 

“And I know without you, and your money, I’m poor. But I need to do this on my own. Away from you and this place and all of you. I want to go to school on my own. If I have to take out student loans, I will. If I have to work three jobs, I will. I just want to have something that’s my own, and that I did myself.” 

Vlad frowned, his head canted, and brows drawn. “I have more than enough money than I know what to do with, little one. Why on earth would you want to accumulate debt when you don’t need to? You’re being silly.” 

“No, I’m being an adult. Remember when you told me to grow up? Well, that’s what I’ve been trying to do. And I need you to let me grow up. In my own way. And in my own time.” 

“Ahh…the conversation by the pool on your 16th birthday.” Vlad tapped at his lips with his finger. “You are twisting my words to suit your narrative. You know exactly what I was talking about that night, and it had nothing to do with funding your education.” 

“Vlad, listen to me. I’m an adult.” 

“You are still a child! 18 is hardly an adult!” He spat, his anger obvious now. I huffed out a humorless laugh. 

“And that’s exactly why I need to do this on my own. You still see me as some little kid that you have to take care of.” I started shoving things in my purse, and then my backpack. I just wanted to leave. Him, and here, and everything. Leave it all behind and start over. 

“I will always feel the need to take care of you.” 

“Because you made a promise to my grandmother. Yes, yes, yes. I know.” I grabbed a folder and tucked my drawings away. I didn’t hear him approach me from behind, but when he was inches away, I felt the coolness of his frame. I stood up, the hairs on the back of my neck standing at attention in his presence. 

“Is this all because of some perceived slight on my part, in regard to your… advances?” Vlad asked, his words thick with meaning. 

I forced myself to not be ashamed, to not let him see the blush. What’s done was done, and there was no undoing that. “That was me being stupid and immature, and like a hundred years ago, so just let it go already.”

“Hardly a hundred years, and believe me, I know what a century feels like.” 

“Your point?” I muttered, annoyed with his stupid logic. 

“My point, sweet Sarah, is that you are a liar. I can hear your heart from a mile away. I can see the hairs on your neck stood on end.” His voice at my ear, drawing me in. I closed my eyes, and leaned back, allowing him to clasp my upper arms with his hands. A slight tilt of my head and then my neck was bared to him. “You pretend to be unaffected, but it is a lie. You would give yourself to me, wouldn’t you, little one? If I but asked, you would fall at my feet?” 

“I would,” I whispered.

“Stupid child. You have this delusion in your head since the day you arrived.” His grasp tightened on my arms, his sharp nails digging into my skin with a pinch. “What do you think would happen? That you’d come of age and we’d fall in love? That we’d settle down and have a normal life?” He nipped at the edge of my ear with his lips. “You’re insane.” 

“Yes, I am, and it’s why I need to leave here. And leave you.” I turned around in his arms, and met his gaze head on. His eyes, so dark they were nearly black, peered down at me. His nostrils had flared, and I knew he was smelling me. He was fighting his urge to take me. I knew this, and the reckless part of me didn’t care. I reached out, dared to, and cupped his jaw with my hand. One finger trailed over the fullness of his bottom lip, tugging it loose so that it parted from the top. White teeth revealed. 

“Do you want me, Vlad?” I asked, my eyes never leaving his lips as I toyed with his flesh. 

“With every fiber of my being,” he breathed out against my fingers. 

“Then why don’t you just do it?” My eyes met his, pleading, filled with want and repressed desire. My own personal truth. 

He tugged me close to him, crushing me against his chest, and held me tight. He was shaking, just as much as I was. His words rumbled through his chest and into mine. “I would destroy you. And I cannot do that to you. Not to you.” 

“Then you have to let me go,” I whispered at his chest. “And don’t bother me. Let me forget you, so that I can move on. Please.” I pushed away from him, and stepped back. 

“Is this what you want?” His voice was so very low. I shook my head. 

“No, but you’ll never give me what I want, so I have to go. I can’t stay here and be around you and pretend like I’m a little kid any longer.” 

“You are 18 years old!” 

“Almost 19, but who’s counting?” I shrugged again. “And it wouldn’t matter if I was 85, you would still deny me.”

“Stupid, idiotic child!” He spat again as he paced. I tried not to let his words affect me, though they stung the deepest part of my heart. My reality, smacking me in the face again. He would never see me as anything more than a child, someone to be taken care of. I simply couldn’t stay here any longer, not in that context. 

“Yes, and you’re a stupid, old vampire. Seems like we’re at an impasse, aren’t we?” 

Vlad stopped, his jaw tense and eyes dark as sin as he pinned me to the spot I was stood on. He stalked toward me, his fists clenched, and for the first time in a long time, I felt real, genuine fear crawl up my spine. He backed me up into the wall, caging me in with his arms. He ran his nose along my jawline, inhaling deeply as if he were trying to breathe in my very essence. 

“You think it clever, provoking me?” He growled against my ear, and took another sniff. 

“I’m not provoking you,” I whispered, doing my best to not reach out and clutch at his waist, to drag him to me, just to see what would happen. 

“Oh, but you are, my sweet Sarah.” He reached up, and grasped my chin and part of my cheek with his hand and turned my face to the side, and then his mouth was pressed against the skin of my neck. His tongue slipped out and pressed at the throbbing in my vein, and I moaned with him. “I can hear the truth in your heartbeat, little one. Fear. Beat after precious beat, rife with fear.” 

“That’s not fear,” I whimpered, and then I could stand it no longer, and grasped at the back of his head, and pressed his mouth against my skin. I felt the openness of his mouth, the sharpness of rows of teeth. “Please, Vlad. Just do it, please!” 

With a snarl, he tore himself away from me, his breathing ragged and eyes gone red around the black of his iris’s. His shoulders rose and fell with the effort, and his face was etched in equal parts pain and lust. I shook as I saw the sharpness of his incisors grown into points, and I knew immediately that I’d pushed him too far. Much too far. I cowered in the corner, sliding down until I was on my haunches, and hugged myself. 

“You would turn me into this beast, and be happy for it,” his voice, a low snarl. “You would reduce me to this, and think it a prize.” 

“I’m sorry,” I cried, over and over. I closed my eyes and covered my ears, hoping and praying for forgiveness, for something, but nothing came. After some time, I realized that I was alone, and that he had gone. I warily looked up to find my room empty, and my door closed, and I fell down on my bottom, and started crying again. 

I don't know how long I stayed in my corner, scared half to death and more sorry and ashamed than I'd ever been. Eventually I realized I needed to get up and I needed to go. Finally, I managed to collect the rest of my things, and without saying goodbye to anyone else, I left his home and headed east to my new home. There was nothing left for me here. I never looked back as I pulled away. And it was good that I didn't look back and search, for if I had, I might have seen the dark figure staring down at me from his room, his nails scratching the panes of glass and leaving deep etches on the surface, his eyes dark and sorrowful. 

If I had seen that, I might have not left at all. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do switch a little between his and her POVs. Hope it's not too confusing. And I wanted to call him Vlad, so he's Vlad in my story.
> 
> And I hope you guys still like this! I feel like it's moving as fast as it possibly could, given her age. I'm not about to write any underage stuff, so I had to get through that part first. I do believe it will get so much more interesting here very soon...


	6. Chapter 6

More years passed, more time stretched in between when I saw Vlad that last night, until at one point, it had been so long that I had seen him, or talked with him, that I began to wonder if he’d ever been real. I made it through my first year of college, and then my second, and third, and now, I was nearing 23 years old, and was just about to graduate college with my degree in digital art. Overall, I had a good life. A normal life. I had a routine. I had friends and a social life. I had boyfriends. Even had one that lasted almost a year before I decided I could no longer pretend that he was good enough. For whatever reason, they were never good enough, despite them all having money and good grades and scholarships. It was ridiculous, but true. And even though I was still so very young, I somehow knew in my heart that Vlad was the reason why no one else was good enough. 

As far away as I was, I could never seem to escape his grasp. 

Vlad had been my driving force, the motivation behind my need to do well, and to do it on my own. I wanted him to be proud of me. To see that I was capable, that I was an adult, and that I didn’t need to depend upon him. I was proud of myself for being able to stand on my own two feet. And, I was able to get over myself enough to text him occasionally, and let him know I was fine. He had provided this life for me, it was the least I could do. He continued to overstep, but I forgave him. How could I not? It was not his fault that I wanted more from him than he could give. The $250K he’d dumped in my account the day I’d left, yes, I had used some of it, but the majority remained, as I refused to accept his help as much as I could. I’d never tell him that, though. As mad as I was, I didn’t want to hurt him in that way. So, I let him assume that I needed his money, and by some extension, him. If I denied it, I’m sure he would have pressed harder, and how was I supposed to move on if he did that? Whenever I missed his call or text, it was because I was studying, not working one of my two jobs. I never told him that I was working so much because I knew he’d lecture me, and I was done being lectured by him. 

_Stupid, idiotic child._ His words still stung.

I tried to forget him and all the silly feelings I had about him. I tried to move on. But in the beginning, it felt impossible. It seemed impossible, no matter what I did. And believe me, I did a lot in the name of moving on.

In the early days of living away from him, in my mind, my only truth was that no matter how hard I tried to pretend that what I felt for him was diminished by distance, it was not. And somehow, I had to fix that, because he’d made it abundantly clear that he did not want me in that way, that my crush on him would never be reciprocated. I worried that I would never be able to fix it, that I would never be able to move on. And that made me mad. Frustrated me. Made me feel out of control, of myself and my emotions. So I took charge and stepped out of my comfort zone and became the stereotypical freshman at a school known for partying: I would go out on dates with this guy and that one, and sometimes, I’d swear I saw Vlad in the distance, his dark eyes watching me from afar. Judging me. I assumed I was seeing things, but knowing him, I knew it was possible that he'd be checking up on me like that. And because it made me angry to feel like I was still somehow attached to him, that he was still trying to cast his shadow over me, I tried to do every wild and crazy thing I could think of. Drinking, partying, experimenting with drugs. And lots and lots of sex. I lost my virginity to some guy in my psych class after a drunken night of booze and weed. Maybe it was because I’d almost been raped before, and maybe it was because each time Vlad had come to my rescue, and maybe it was because I wanted him to come to my rescue again, that I played with fire in that manner. Maybe I just didn’t care. Or, I wondered, maybe I wanted to sleep with so many guys that any memory of Vlad would have no room to remain in my head. Maybe I was crazy. Maybe I was obsessed. _So many maybes…_

It never worked though. 

It never stuck, the relationships, and as each one bled into the next, I grew more and more annoyed. Maybe I was just destined to be alone. Like Vlad. _What a crock of shit._ My anger at him continued to grow. My resentment festered, until I finally I came to a point where I would ignore his texts and then his phone calls, and would only send word by way of Angie. But then my communication with Angie also waned, and I blamed Vlad for that, too. How was it possible that after all these years, and all this space, and all this damn time, that he still held some kind of control over me? It infuriated me, as much as it made me incredibly sad. 

And after my anger, I grew depressed. So sad that I was skipping classes and not eating. Not sleeping. The sadness lingered like an old wet, blanket that you could never get the stench out of it, hanging heavy over my heart and mind and soul. 

I was sad, despite the many different antidepressants I tried, and despite all the coping skills I’d been taught and employed. I couldn’t stop crying the day I’d dug through my pile of drawings and accidentally stumbled upon that old one I’d done of him so long ago. I had smiled at my rudimentary skills, knowing it was the mark of a beginner. And besides, I didn’t have photos of him, never would, so the only thing I had was my memory and what I could draw from it. That day, I sat on my floor, listening to Marilyn Manson, just as I had as a teenager, and began drawing him again.

_Vlad, taking my hand the first time we met, rescuing me from Daniel._

_Vlad, in the huge kitchen he never ate in, lecturing me about grades and whatever else had irritated him that day._

_Vlad, on my birthday, gifting me with that car, and our kiss by the pool._

_Vlad giving me that bracelet and necklace the day I left, the day that I’d pushed him so far that he’d nearly come undone._

His words that day haunted me still: _You would turn me into this beast, and be happy for it..._

The day I’d found that old drawing, I sat there on my floor, tears streaming down my cheeks as I sketched him, as I drew out by hand all the memories of him I could recall. This went on for days, and sometimes weeks as I sunk into a deeper depression, topped off with waves of manic energy, fueled by heartache and too much liquor. As it were, I now had an entire notebook full of images of him. I only dug it out when I was super depressed or super lonely, knowing full well that he was both the cause and the cure for both. 

At some point - maybe when I was brought into the guidance counselor’s room and explained I was failing and needed a remedial plan if I wanted to graduate - I knew I needed some help. I needed to do something with myself. 

And so, as a way to start healing, I’d been directed to a counselor at the school, and had begun processing some of my accumulated trauma. The abuse by my father. My mother’s suicide, and my guilt surrounding that. The way my father had blamed me for her death, saying that I’d brought it on, and how he couldn’t stand to look at me because I looked so much like her. The loss of my grandmother that I barely knew. When it came time to discuss the man that I’d moved in with after my father’s death, I found that much harder to talk about. How do you explain to a therapist that probably the greatest man you had ever known was a killer who drank blood to survive? That the man you’d been nursing a crush on for so many years was a vampire? That he was the vampire in all the stories, misguides though they were. It was ridiculous. It sounded ridiculous. 

And so, I’d explored my feelings surrounding him, whilst leaving out the whole immortal, vampire part, because I knew that I needed to talk about him to someone. If I was ever going to get better, I needed to work through whatever emotionally tangled mess I had in my head and heart in regards to him. 

The counselor agreed with my earlier hypothesis, that my attraction to my guardian was probably stemming from my unresolved issues with my father, and my unmet attachment needs. Perhaps, I’d nodded in agreement. It made sense. I had a shit dad, so I looked to Vlad to be the dad I never had. Maybe I even idolized him in some ways. I could see that. 

Or maybe, I’d argued, maybe he was the first man I’d ever looked at to take care of me, when so many others had always wanted to hurt me? That, as strange as it sounds, I felt safe with him. The therapist agreed that it was possible. We talked about the attempted rapes, and about current boyfriends. How did they treat me? And how did I want to be treated? Because you know, you teach people how to treat you, she’d explained. I agreed, wondering if I’d taught Vlad how to treat me in some way. 

"He must be much older than you?” the therapist had asked. I smiled. 

“Yeah, a little.” I replied. She had no idea. 

“So, I mean, I guess it’s not unheard of, as I’m sure plenty of folks have entered into romantic relationships with older partners.” She tapped at her lip with her pen. “My concern is that he is in – _well he was in_ – a guardianship position over you.” She shifted in her seat. “Forgive me for asking, and you don’t have to answer, but did your guardian ever…make any inappropriate advances towards you? Maybe when you were younger?” 

I started laughing, remembering it was I that had kissed him. “No.”

“I know it’s hard, but sometimes these things happen, and it can skew our feelings towards our caregivers. And unfortunately, it’s not unheard of in this kind of situation,” the therapist continued. I gave another laugh, followed a fervent shake of my head.

“He never touched me like that. Ever.” I giggled again, remembering all the times I wished he had done just that. Leave it up to an almost 600-year old vampire to be a paragon of virtue. 

“What’s going on right now?” She asked me as she took in my laughter. “Sarah, what are you thinking?” 

“I’m just thinking, that of all the men I’ve ever been around in my life, all have taken from me, hurt me, lied to me. Hit me, abused me. All have been very, very bad.” I ducked my head and fiddled with the edge of my fake nail. 

“That struck a nerve with you, didn’t it?” The therapist prodded gently. I nodded. “Tell me why. That thought didn’t come from out of nowhere.”

“It’s just that, the one person that should want to hurt me, the one that had every reason to, never did.” I looked up at her and took a deep breath. “And it’s so incredibly crazy to me, because if you knew this person, you’d understand what I was saying.” 

The therapist frowned. “I mean, I don’t have to know him to know that he— _or anyone else for that matter_ —shouldn’t be hurting you. No matter who they are. I gotta say, Sarah, I’m a little concerned about the thought processes going on right now.” 

I glanced at her and then returned to my fingernail. 

“Okay, so you know those stories of people that rescue lions and they raise them, and later on they release them into the wild, and then the animal comes back and recognizes their rescuer? Like on Facebook, have you seen those videos?” I peeled back the nail on my index finger and tucked it in my jean pocket, and then moved on to my middle finger. 

“Maybe, I’m not sure,” the therapist continued frowning. 

“So, the lion, it’s a natural-born killer, right?” 

Another nod from the therapist. 

“So, why don’t they kill their rescuers?” 

“I’m not a veterinarian, Sarah,” the therapist smiled in that annoying, patronizing therapist way. I frowned, exasperated that she wasn’t following where I was going. 

“They don’t hurt the rescuers because they love them! Can’t you see? That just because something can kill, that something is born to kill, and needs to kill, that it doesn’t always kill?” I was smiling as if I’d just solved some great mystery of the world. 

“Well, Sarah, I’m sure those lion caretakers are very careful around the lions, regardless of the relationship. It’s still a wild animal. It could turn at any moment.” 

“And yet everyday they go in that enclosure and take care of that animal.” My smile grew. “Why would they do that?” 

“Well, it’s their job, but I’m sure that they have some kind of emotional attachment to the animals in their care.” The therapist was writing furiously on her tablet. 

“It’s because they love the lions. They love them, despite the lions being potential man-eaters.” I smiled again. “And I think the lions love them back.”

After that session, I began to understand myself better. I knew that a part of me loved Vlad for who he was – my caretaker, my guardian. An immortal vampire. My friend. But I also had feelings for him, that to me, at least, began to make sense in my own head. Because for the longest, I had wondered how on earth I could justify feeling any type of way towards someone that could kill me. The fact was, he’d never tried to kill me. If anything, he’d only ever tried to protect me – from the world and himself. To me, that meant that Vlad cared for me. And for now, that was enough. I didn’t feel the need to go back to him and explain, because I was sure he’d deny me still. All that mattered was that I knew what I knew in my heart, and that was enough.

With my thoughts cleared on what I felt for Vlad, I began to try and look at it as just another unrequited love story. Yes, it sucked, but I wouldn’t be the first to have a heartbreak, nor would I be the last. I would get over it.

Eventually.


	7. Chapter 7

I started taking care of myself. Exercising. Sleeping better, eating better. I stopped drinking so much. My grades came up. My string of boyfriends lessened, until I was left with only one. Bradley. I had been seeing him for a few weeks, and I had fun with him. he was kind and gentle, a big guy, maybe as tall as Vlad, but much lighter in color. Whereas Vlad was dark and moody and brooding, Bradley was a blue-eyed daredevil, his sandy curls cropped close to his head, and he had a permanent smile on his bearded face. He made me smile. He did things for me that others never had. He took me out to dinners he planned on his own. He opened the door for me, even though I could do it myself. He took me to the movies, and fishing. He bought me candy bars and my favorite coke. He didn’t pressure me for sex, and had in fact, said we needed to wait until we knew each other better, and now, it was 2 months I’d been dating him, and we’d not had sex yet. And I was okay with it, no longer feeling like I had to force things and recreate my reality. In short, he was so very sweet, and I could see myself falling for him. Making a life with him. 

Life was going good, and then one day, I got 6 missed calls, and finally a voicemail from Vlad that I couldn’t ignore. 

_“Hello, little one. I am calling…to…well you see the thing is…Look I hate to do this over the phone, but you haven’t answered any of my texts or calls, and now it’s too late and you need to know. Sarah, I’m sorry, but…Angie has passed away.”_ A pause, and then he continued. _“She had a heart attack, and there was nothing that could be done. The funeral is this Sunday. I hope you can make it. And I’m sorry again to call you like this.”_

I crumpled to the floor, my knees buckling as I replayed his message and looked for the lie. This was a joke, right? I redialed the number and he answered on the first ring. 

“Vlad?” I was already crying. 

“I am so sorry,” his deep voice came over the line, soothing from so many miles away. 

“How? Why?” I cried, knowing I wouldn’t get any answers because there was none to be had. 

“Will you come to the funeral? I won’t be able to attend, because of the nature of it, but she would’ve wanted you there.” 

“Yes, I’ll leave in the next hour or so.” I stood up and began moving about my room, going to autopilot as I tried to focus on the task at hand. 

“I can send someone. Or you can fly. I’ll buy your ticket. Save some of the travel.” 

“No, I’ll drive.” I shoved some clothes in my small suitcase. “I’ll see you soon.” 

* * *

I arrived back at my former home at almost 2:00AM the next day, Friday. It had taken me a little over 5 hours, and I’d only stopped once. Vlad had called me a few times to make sure I was awake, and I’d spoken to him briefly, telling him I wasn’t in the mood to talk. He said he understood, and let me be. I called Bradley along the way and explained. He asked if he should come, and I said no. The funeral was to be held Sunday morning, and I’d just drive back home when it was done. He said he understood, but let me know that he was there for me, for whatever I needed. I thanked him and said goodbye before he could say that he loved me. 

I sat in the driveway for a few minutes, just taking it all in as I stared up at the darkness of my former home. It looked just the same as I’d left it. So many emotions. I let myself in with my same key, and slowly entered. The house was dark, save for the small light in the kitchen. It smelled the same. Clean, crisp. Almost unlived in, save for the warmer burning gardenia in the corner. Angie loved the smell of gardenias. I couldn’t help but smile at little as my memories flooded back. I ran a hand over the countertop of the island and fought back tears. Angie had taught me how to make so many dishes at this countertop. Me, a girl that didn’t even know how to boil water, had learned to make gumbos, and pies, and souffles…all the things that you saw on the television that looked impossibly hard. I’d sat at this same countertop, pouring over homework, and filling out college applications, and all under Angie’s watch. Angie who didn’t even have a high school diploma, and who wanted me to do better than she had. 

“She passed peacefully.” 

I looked up to see Vlad stood in the doorway, his hands in his pockets.

“I should’ve come. She was getting old, I should’ve known. When you guys called, I should’ve made time to come back and see her--” My voice cracked with grief, and in an instant, he was there, holding me in his arms like he’d always done. I melted into him, and in the dim light of the kitchen, Vlad held me as I grieved. He ran his hands up and down my back and my shoulders, whispering soft words of comfort. 

“You didn’t know, little one. How could you?” 

I dashed at some tears with my knuckle. His nickname for me tugged at my heart. This house. These smells. Him holding me like this. It was all too much and I felt my heart cracking open. “Was she alone?” 

“No. I was there. And the others. We were all there.” He rested his chin atop my head. “She was surrounded by her family, up in her own bed. They’ve only just come to collect her this morning.”

“Everyone but me,” I whispered, my words failing me as I peeked out from his chest and I saw on the fridge the same picture of me and her when I graduated. She was smiling, so very happy. 

“She was so proud of you. She understood you had school and work. Don’t blame yourself for anything.” His arms tightened around me. “Come on, let’s get you settled in your room. You must be tired.”

My hand in his, I followed him upstairs, back into my room, and when I walked in, I couldn’t help but smile despite my grief. It was exactly the same. I set my purse down on my old desk, and smiled up at my posters, still gracing the walls. Nothing had changed. 

“Why didn’t you get rid of all this stuff?” I tugged a polaroid of me out, and turned it over to read the writing on the back: **Sophomore year field trip.** I stared at my face, laughing with my friends, and pressed it back to the corkboard with a smile. 

“I guess I wasn’t ready to let you go.” 

I looked back at Vlad, and saw the uncharacteristically sheepish look on his face, and I erupted into a fresh set of tears. And just like before, he was there, holding me and offering comfort. I cried against his chest, years and years of sadness and frustration, and all the while, he held me just as he always did. 

I eventually calmed down, and asked that he leave. He did so, and I remained, alone in my room. I had showered, and was curled up in my bed, looking up at the same ceiling I’d stared up at so long ago, and let tears fall down my cheeks. Would I ever run out of tears? I felt like I was bone-dry on the inside, like there was nothing left. The shock was over, I think, and now I was just left with a sense of emptiness. The fact that I’d never see her again, that the woman I’d considered my mother for at least a few years was now gone. It had hollowed me inside. I felt numb. I felt disconnected. I sat up in the bed, my eyes passing over all of my stuff, all left in place just as it had been before, and I decided I didn’t want to be alone. I got out of my bed and left my room. 


	8. Chapter 8

I crept down the hall, wincing with every noise my feet made on the carpet and then on the wood, until I found his room. Tucked at the end of the hall, he had the largest room, and I’d only ever been in it one time. One time I’d tried to snoop, and Vlad had forbid me from ever entering again. This time, I respectfully knocked and waited. 

The door opened, and Vlad was there. 

I gulped, seeing him shirtless, clad only in sleep pants that were slung precariously low on his slim hips. It was odd, this strong, immortal creature wearing Saints pajama pants. His chest, while not overly wrought with muscle, was lean and sculpted, and dusted with a dark thatch of hair that spread from one side to the other, and down to the waistband of his pants, where it disappeared. I forced a smile around my embarrassment at catching him so underdressed. All my childhood – _and sometimes adult fantasies_ –flooded my brain, reminding me that he was very much everything I’d ever imagined in all my wildest dreams. My eyes met his, and I found he was watching me. Warily. 

“Can I stay with you?” 

“Sarah, I don’t think it’s—”

“I can’t stay alone here, tonight. I can’t. I won’t pressure you and I won’t jump you. I swear.” My attempt at levity fell short, and his frown grew. I wiped the fake smile from my face, quickly allowing the sadness to replace it. “Please, Vlad. I can’t stay here alone. Not tonight. It’s too quiet, and I can’t stop crying. Please.”

With a sigh, he opened the door wider and I stepped in, passing easily under his arm. It was just as I remembered. Dark and luxurious, his walls painted black and curtains even blacker to drown out the light. No way of telling whether it was night or day. I walked to his bed and crawled in and settled. I looked up to see Vlad stood there, his arms crossed over his chest, and lips slightly parted as he watched me. For someone so incredibly dangerous, he looked very much afraid. On guard, even. 

I blinked back at him. “What?” 

“By all means, make yourself at home,” he shook his head as he walked over to the large couch along the wall. He promptly lay down on it, and turned over. Much to my dismay. The whole point in coming over here was so that I wasn’t alone. I called to him.

“Get over here.” 

“Perfectly fine here. Go to sleep,” came his muffled reply. 

“If you don’t come over here, I’ll come over there, and that couch is way smaller than this bed, and then you’ll really have to be close to me.” 

“Sarah…”

“ _Vlad…._ ”

Silence. I huffed. 

“Vlad….” I called again, and hid my grin when I heard him shuffle and turn over. He was mad, I just knew it. 

“Vlad. Vlad. Vlad.” I obnoxiously repeated, until finally I saw him sit straight up. He threw the covers off him and jerked up from the couch. He was so annoyed, I could see. Satisfied, I lay down and stared up at the ceiling, listening to his feet as he padded over to the bed. He crawled in on the far side and lay with his back facing me. I scooched over, getting as close as I dared, and pressed my shoulder at his back. I knew he would be cold, but I needed his comfort. 

“Thank you.” I smiled. 

“ _Go. To. Sleep._ ” 

Minutes passed, and no sound came from him. He didn’t breathe, he didn’t snore, he didn’t even stir. I brought a finger up to my mouth and began chewing on my nail. Vlad gave a long-suffering sigh. 

“That is a disgusting habit.” 

“You’re one to talk, aren’t you?” I quipped. 

Another sigh from him, and a kick of his feet as he moved under the covers. More minutes passed, and more of my fingernail got chewed up, and then I moved on to the next one. I needed to remove my fake nails to make way for new ones anyway. I started chewing, louder. 

“Why are you the way that you are?” His voice was so laden with irritation, that I couldn’t hide my laugh and I had to let it out. This earned another annoyed sigh from him, and another kick of his feet at the end of the bed. “I really think your purpose in life is to drive me insane. And let me tell you, you are doing a splendid job.” 

“Just turn over and talk to me then.” I turned over on my side and stared at his broad back. Willing him to do as I asked. Finally, he relented, and rolled over. His dark eyes glinted in the dark, and I could see his mouth was set in a tense line. “See? Not so bad, right?” 

“This is ridiculous.” He closed his eyes. “You’re ridiculous.” 

“Why? Do you want to bite me? Am I too close?” I leaned up on my elbow. “I can get closer.” 

“Stop. Fucking hell, just stop. _Please_.” 

I lay there, watching him try and feign sleep, but I knew he was faking it. I studied his face as best as I could in the dark, smiling at the creases at the corner of his eyes. The deep lines etched around his full lips. The way his dark brows were bunched together in annoyance. The wayward tuft of dark hair that had fallen over and onto his forehead. I had to fight myself to not reach out and press it back into the rest of his hair where it belonged. I wanted to touch him. I blinked a few times, realizing again how much I had missed his face all these years. How much I had missed him. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t call you more.” My mood shifted, and the sadness crept back in. I tugged the blanket up to my chin, suddenly feeling very small. 

“You were busy.” His eyes, still closed, as he spoke. 

“I wasn’t that busy that I couldn’t call. That I couldn’t visit.” I hiccuped around a fresh sob. I really thought I was done crying. “And I should have called her more. I just always thought there’d be more time. That I could just come back later, you know?” 

“Sarah, there’s no need for an apology.” His eyes had opened, and he was staring at me. I stared back, barely breathing, and then he gave that old heartbreakingly familiar tease of a smile, and I knew we were okay. The one that made his eyes crinkle at the corners, and I knew he was no longer mad at me. At least for now. I smiled back. 

“Why are you trying to justify your actions to me?” He quietly asked. “We all knew that you were going on to live your life as any young person should. We expected it. And we were happy for it.” 

“I don’t know. I guess I feel guilty,” I shrugged under the blanket. “I mean, I came in out of nowhere, and you paid for everything, and then I just left, and never looked back.” My shoulders hunched again. “I just feel guilty for not being here. Angie didn’t deserve me leaving her like that.” 

“Despite being in my service, Angie had a great life. And she loved you, and she would’ve never held it against you, you living your life. She told me so, many, many times over. But she was happy here, Sarah. Rest easy in that knowledge. She kept my secrets, and I looked past hers.” 

“What secrets?” I asked.

“When I found her, she was nearly dead from a meth overdose down on Canal Street.” Vlad explained. “My intent, of course, was to satisfy my appetite with her, but I’m not overly fond of drugs.” 

“So, you saved her? Why?” 

“I suppose I did. And I don’t rightly know why.” Vlad ran a hand over his cheek. “I’ve only ever allowed a handful of people to live once I’ve…identified them. Angie was one of them. And I’ll probably never know why. Maybe it was nothing more than I did it because I wanted to see if I could. A challenge, if you will.” He smiled again. “One does tend to get bored after being alive for so very long.” 

My words to my therapist played over and over in my head, my way of describing this man behaving in the most unorthodox way as I talked about a damn lion. My theory was true: _He was capable of caring about someone outside of himself._ I would never be convinced otherwise. 

“And my grandmother was another?” 

“She was, indeed.” Another smile from the vampire. 

“Will you tell me about her?” I asked, my voice sounding so small and childish. I swallowed the lump lodged in my vocal chords. “I only met her a handful of times, and it was when I was very young. Most of the times I can’t even remember. The one time that I can kind of remember, it was after my mother died. My dad and I –we’d gone on a plane, I remember, and I met her at the airport. She met us there, and I wanted to go with her, but my dad wouldn’t let me. And so, we stayed at the hotel, us in one room, and her in the other, and that night, I snuck out and went to her room and stayed with her. I don’t remember much, except my dad being so pissed and lots of yelling. We left the next day. And I never saw her again.” 

“So that was you that day,” Vlad murmured, more to himself. I perked up. 

“What do you mean?” 

“I followed Sarah Ann into town that evening. She said she was meeting her family, and my interest was piqued. She was very out of sorts, which was never normal for her to be so. I knew her daughter - your mother- had died, and she was distraught, but she was usually very composed. At least not that I’d seen. Maybe I was bored. Maybe it was just curiosity. I don’t know.” He turned his head to look at me, that same smile tugging at his lips. “But I saw you, little one.” He nodded. “Yes, I saw you that night, creeping from your room to the one adjacent. Walking as if you owned the whole hotel.” He smiled. “I believe you were wearing a pink unicorn shirt, and…purple sleeping pants? I saw you and your grandmother, my Sarah and her Sarah, tucked away in her bed, watching some silly show on the television while you ate ice cream, I believe? Do you remember?” 

I nodded that I did.

My eyes welled with tears at the memory, something I’d forgotten mostly due to my age at the time, and now Vlad had just given it back to me in such strong detail that I felt my heart aching in my chest. Vlad pulled me to him, situating me so that I was resting against his side, my head on his chest, and he hugged me. Tightly. 

“You’ve always been there,” I sniffled. 

“I suppose I have.” 

“Do you want to know what was in the letter from my grandmother?” I shifted so that I could fit under his arm better. He shifted also, resting his hand at my hip. I lay my head on his chest, my cheek cooled from his skin, and my mind sort of reeling at the fact that I didn’t hear a heartbeat underneath. Despite that, laying in his arms like this felt so incredibly natural to me, when by any right, it shouldn’t have. For whatever reason, we just seemed to fit together. 

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious.” 

“Well, she explained that she was unable to come get me due to her husband. That she’d also been abused for a long time, but that you’d handled that for her.” I looked up at Vlad, and saw the smile quirk up his lips.

“Ah yes, I remember the disgusting taste of him. Go on.” 

“Yeah, so anyway, she said after my mom died, she wanted to come, but she couldn’t leave you. And she knew that my dad would never let me go with her. And she said that at one point you got really sick, I guess from that bad blood, and she stayed on when everyone else left to take care of you. She said she owed you for taking her out of the situation with my grandfather.” 

“Sarah Ann was an amazing woman,” Vlad murmured softly. 

“And so, she said that when she developed pancreatic cancer, she knew she didn’t have much time left.” 

Vlad stilled under my words, and the rhythmic caress of his fingers against my hip stopped. “She what?” 

“She didn’t tell you?” 

“No. She had cancer?” 

“Yes, pancreatic. And very bad.” I grimaced as I tucked my head under his chin again. 

“It’s why she went so fast, then,” Vlad mused out loud. “When I noticed how sickly she looked, I begged her to go and see a doctor and she refused.” He scratched at his jaw. “How could I have not known?” 

“Well, did you bite her?”

“Never.” Vlad was emphatic. His thoughts turned back to the fiasco with Zoe, his first real taste of poisoned blood, and he grimaced. 

“Then how would you know?” I snuggled into his chest. “She said she was old and was too tired to fight anymore. But she felt that she’d given you enough of herself that you would return the favor and take care of me.” I smiled. “And yes, she loved you. She spoke of how handsome you were, and how she wished to have met you when she was ‘in her prime’.” I giggled and Vlad chuckled underneath me. 

“She said that you were a good man. And even though you’re a vampire, she said you still had good in you. And that someone just needed to drag it out.” I looked over his face, smiling at the deep creases at his lips and the lines of his jaw. “She said that I needed to try and see past the vampire and try and see the man. And that you needed to see that you could still exist in this world, just as you are.” 

“Don’t.” One word from him.

“Don’t what?” I scooted up so that I was on his chest, and peered down at him. I held his gaze with mine. “She saw the good in you. And I know there’s good in you.”

He pushed at me, and I rolled off, allowing him to get up. He paced along the side of the bed, running a hand through his hair and then along both his jaws. His hair was sticking up, and he was so out of sorts with agitation, his frustration so obvious. I sat up, pulling the blanket up around my chest.

“Why can’t you accept that just maybe, just maybe things don’t have to be what you’ve always thought they were?” I was also frustrated. “I mean, you can go in the sun. You don’t sleep in a coffin. The only difference between you and me is that you drink blood and live forever!” 

Vlad stopped, his back to me. “And if I was pushed hard enough, and if I was thirsty enough, I’d drink your blood, just the same as anyone else’s’.” He turned to me, his eyes pleading. “Can’t you understand? That yes, maybe I want this and maybe I want you, but I can’t have it? That you can’t have this…”—he gestured between us wildly— “…whatever this is!”

“Vlad, listen to me. Please.” I went up on my knees, blanket still at my chest. “My grandmother lived with you. I lived with you for almost 3 years. Never once did you try to hurt me. And I had periods, every month. I know you know that. You lived in a houseful of women, and every month, it’s the same. Not trying to be crude, but blood is blood right? And you were around it. I cut my fingers and my lip while here. I had nosebleeds. And you never tried to hurt any of us. Why would you live with a bunch of women if you didn’t think you could control yourself?” I crawled to him, to the edge of the bed. “And I’ve known you for almost 10 years now, and only once have I ever seen you lose control with me. And even then, you fixed it! You calmed yourself down, and we were fine.” I crawled off the bed and stood before him. The blanket fell away as I pressed myself against his rigid form. My hands snaked around his bare waist and met at his lower back. 

“Sarah, please don’t.” 

I pressed a kiss at the center of his chest, and then nuzzled the coarse hair there. I didn’t care. My emotions were wild, a mixture of grief, and lust, and forbidden desire that had been tucked away for so very long. I had wanted this man, this creature, for so long, and if I had to die to experience it one time, then so be it. Another kiss, this one a little bit longer and a little bit harder. Vlad’s strangled groan gave me courage, and I leaned up as far as I could and kissed his collarbone. His hands came around my back, and I could feel the sharp points of his nails as they dug into my skin. His entire body had gone rigid, stiff as a board, and I felt like I was pressed up against a wall. He was so very hard. I kissed him again, daring to trail my lips across the hard smoothness of his chest, delighting in the rough hair that lay across the muscles of his chest as my fingers explored him for the first time. I spread my fingers and slid my hands up his back...

“I’m asking you to please don’t do this…” Vlad whispered as his hands tightened at my back.

I looked up, and saw that he was looking away, the muscle in his tense jaw ticking under his skin, and I knew I had to stop. That was a no, plain as day. With a lump in my throat, I peeled myself away from him, and slunk back. Without another word, I left his room, and dejectedly made my way back down to mine. 

For the first time ever in that house, I locked the door behind me that night. 


	9. Chapter 9

He had no idea if he could have sex. He’d not had it in so long, he could hardly remember anything about it other than the mechanics. He walked through the dimly lit bar, searching for his victim, but feeling altogether unwell at what all tonight would entail. 

He had to try. For her. 

He'd left his house almost immediately after the incident with Sarah. He needed to figure things out. He knew what she wanted from him, and he knew that he wanted to give it to her, but he wasn't sure if he could. He shook his head, and gave a disgusted grimace. His eyes roamed throughout the bar, his ears picking up all the conversations. Looking, searching, evaluating.

Imagine having to fuck someone just to see if you could, just to see if you wouldn’t kill the one you wanted to be with? It was ridiculous. But necessary, he reminded. Of all the damnable places to be.

He’d pretended for long enough that he cared not for Sarah, but her touching him earlier the way she had, had stirred up so many feelings in him that he’d believed long dead. He had felt the tightness in his lower stomach, the familiar ache of lust in his groin as her hands rested against his bare chest. It was lust that he’d felt, plain and simple, but he was not wise enough to know if he’d be able to have sex and not kill her. The two always seemed to go together, the sexual lust and the blood lust. At least, it had been true all the other times that he’d engaged in the act. And in his almost 600 years, those encounters were far and few between, because he didn’t need to do it. 

He simply didn’t desire sex as much as he did blood. And he had no reason to work for it, not when he could just take blood when and where he wanted and from whomever he wanted. It was tantamount to skipping foreplay and heading right into intercourse. He had never given it much thought, and had only proceeded with it on those handful of times before at the request of the other party. And every single time, he'd gotten so worked up that it had ended in the other party's death. He couldn't control himself when the two were mixed. And so he stopped having sex. Stopped thinking about sex. 

_Until her._

Until Sarah. Something inside him had awoken, something had stirred as he saw her legs peeking out from her sleeping shorts, the way her full breasts had flattened against his chest, her warmth creeping into his cold. He pressed on in search of the perfect candidate, cutting smoothly through the crowd, prowling through the darkness of the club in search of his prey. 

He saw her at the end of the bar, a cigarette in one hand and a half-empty drink in the other. Blonde, rich, well-dressed. Alone. 

“Hello,” he murmured, his voice dropped down into a lower octave, knowing it would elicit the response he wanted. As if on cue, the woman turned on her stool, her lips painted with a dark red lipstick, and reeking of entirely too much perfume. 

“Why hello there,” she smiled. “Would you like to buy me a drink?” She swallowed what was left in her glass and arched a perfectly waxed brow. “It seems I’ve run out.” 

Vlad leaned forward to purr: “Certainly I’ll buy you a drink, but I’d love to take you somewhere…a little more... private afterwards.” 

She giggled and he pressed his nose at her ear, nuzzling her. The scent of her perfume was overpowering, sickeningly sweet, and he had to remind himself he was doing this for a reason. Otherwise, he’d sink his teeth into her neck right now, as he could hear the slow and steady thumping of her heart beat in her vein. He smirked. She wasn’t excited, nor was she scared. She’d done this before. He felt a little less guilty for what he was about to do. He leaned back, though he rested a hand at her lower back.

He gave a smile. “What do you say? My place or yours?” 

“Well, I don’t have a place, so it’ll have to be yours.”

* * *

Vlad leaned his head back against the headboard of the hotel room bed, his eyes glinting as he watched her at his groin. Her lips were wrapped around his cock, her head bobbing up and down rhythmically, and he prayed he could maintain this erection to see him through to the end. Of all the experiments in the world, here he was, carrying out the most fucked-up one of them all. He tugged at her forearm, tired of the sounds her mouth made, and pulled her to him.

“Come here. Come closer,” he murmured as he pulled her up and over him so that she straddled him. She sank down on him, her wetness coating every part of him, and then he was thrusting into her. She clutched at his shoulders, her sharply manicured nails almost as pointed as his, though she would never leave a mark on him, no matter how hard she dug. Vlad buried his face at the crook of her neck, fighting off the urge to sate his bloodlust with that vein that was taunting him, and continued fucking her. Harder and faster, longer and deeper. 

“Oh god!” She cried out after one particularly hard snap of his hips, and he winced. 

“Don’t fucking say that again,” he hissed between his teeth as he pulled her off of him. She landed on her back with a throaty giggle, smiling up at him in such a way that turned his stomach. 

He roughly flipped her over, and entered her from behind, no longer wanting to see her face. She mewled, whimpering and whining and moaning as he pounded into her, over and over, reaching desperately for that high that was just out of his bloody reach. He watched as her body swayed under him, and despite his disgust – or maybe because of it– he began to imagine it was Sarah under him. Her sweet little body and her perfect little ass. He saw her dark hair instead of this one’s blonde, her ass pressed up against him and not this one. He reached down with one hand and cupped the woman’s breasts, and dreamed with his eyes closed that he was making love to Sarah, and not just fucking some woman who’s name he never bothered to get. 

It was Sarah under him. Sarah with her sweet smiles, high-pitched giggles, and dancing eyes. Sarah who reached for him, over and over again, and who he’d always turned away in fear that he’d hurt her. Sarah, the only woman who continued reaching for him. He clenched his eyes shut tightly, concentrating, telling himself it was Sarah down there. It was Sarah. Sarah who smelled like cinnamon and vanilla and all things fresh. It was Sarah, and he was making love to her. 

His stomach tightened and he believed his eyes rolled into the back of his head as he came with so much force that he wanted to scream. He released her breasts and held her hips, snapping into her a few more times, until he was utterly and completely spent. He collapsed on her back, his breathing more ragged than he could ever remember, and rolled off of her. She rolled onto her back, and reached over for a cigarette and lit up. 

“Well, that was fucking hot.” She smiled around her cigarette, and Vlad watched from the corner of his eye as an irritating puff of smoke traveled up to the ceiling. He wanted her gone from his sight. Right now. 

“Get out.” 

“What?” She giggled, albeit a little uncertainly. She was still drunk. He could hear it in her voice. 

“I said, get out. Now.” Vlad sat up and walked over to the window, no care for his nudity. He stood there, his arms crossed over his chest as he stared out into the night. 

“Are you serious?” The woman asked, an edge of annoyance in her voice. She sat up and began gathering her clothes. “Why the rush? I’ve only been here for like, an hour!” 

Vlad sighed, and turned around, his anger precariously close to being revealed. The sight of her made him so sick to his stomach that he wanted to kill her just because. 

“Because if you don’t leave, I’ll be forced to kill you.” He smiled from behind a mouthful of teeth. “And neither of us want that, do we?” 

Terrified, the woman shook her head, and leapt from the bed to get dressed. A few minutes later, she was gone, though he’d not even bothered to see her to the door. She slammed it behind her. 

Vlad stood there at the window, feeling equal parts shame and relief. He had his answer: He could have sex without blood. He'd done it this one time, and he was sure he'd be able to do it again. He walked over the shower and stepped in. He didn't need it. He didn't sweat, and he didn't have a smell per say. But right now, he reeked of that woman and he wanted it off his body. He scrubbed at his hair, and then under his arms, and finally his genitals, removing every bit of that woman that lingered. When he finally felt clean enough, he sank down on the shower floor, sitting on his ass as the water ran over his head and face and body. Mortals did this all the time, this sitting in the shower. Maybe it was the warmth of the water as it cascaded over him, and maybe it was the fact that he still didn't feel very clean. Who knows. From inside the room, his phone buzzed, and he knew it was time to head back home. Sunrise would be coming soon, and just because he didn't sleep in a coffin, and just because he didn't run from the sun like he had before, didn't mean he wanted to be anywhere but his own bed when dawn broke. He hurriedly dressed and made his way back to the house. 


	10. Chapter 10

The next day, I drifted in and out of the house, not worried that I'd run into Vlad. While the sun didn't burn him up like you'd think, I knew he disliked the feeling, and only looked at it from afar. He'd not be up and about today. And he probably wanted to avoid me if at all possible after last night's little ordeal. 

There was nothing to plan for the funeral, as it had all been taken care of. Angie would be buried down at the local cemetery. Some distant cousin was coming, and would be responsible for the paperwork portion. And so, not having anything left to do, I spent my day walking the island, stopping in little shops, eating little bites of food. Remembering what it was like to grow up here. Remembering the last remnants of my childhood, and how different it was from all I'd experienced prior to coming here. I bought a few things for my friends. A tee-shirt for Bradley. A few snacks. I piddled around in a bookstore for a few hours, until finally, I dragged myself back home and back upstairs. 

Still didn't see Vlad anywhere. The house was incredibly quiet, dark and somber, much like my mood. 

I ate. I showered. Laid out my clothes for the funeral tomorrow. Repacked my bags so that I could leave right after. I finally lay down after almost midnight, no longer able to watch any more television. My thoughts always went back to Vlad. That night, I lay in my bed, feeling so completely rejected that I didn’t even know what to do with it. I had tried to show him what I was feeling. I had tried to talk him through it. But it was to no avail. And I was stupid for thinking it could be anything more than it was. I was not even 24, and he was hundreds of years old, so what common ground was there. I was an idiot. 

I picked up my cell and called Bradley out of desperation. I desperately needed to hear someone’s voice. 

“Hey baby,” his voice came over the line. I tugged the blankets up higher around my neck and snuggled in, the phone pressed at my ear. 

“What are you doing?”

“Well, I was sleeping,” Bradley chuckled, sleepily. 

“I’m sorry. Want me to let you go?” 

“No, no. It’s good. What’s wrong?” 

I went on to explain that I was so sad. Told him that I should’ve never stayed here, and that I should have gotten a room somewhere. Talked about the house and how sad it made me to be back. I didn’t talk about Vlad, or what had happened, and a part of me felt guilty, because I knew that if I had been successful last night, Bradley and I wouldn’t be talking now. That I might still be in Vlad’s bed. My guilt bubbled up inside at how deceitful I was being, but I couldn’t divulge it. 

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come down?” 

I worried with my lip, wondering how Vlad would react to seeing my boyfriend. Would he care? Would he be jealous? Would he feel anything? And honestly, if I were to be completely truthful with myself, I wasn’t sure I wanted Bradley down here for any reason other than to get a rise from Vlad. A reaction that I may never get from him, so why even bother…

“Sarah?”

“No, I don’t think you should. By the time you get here, the funeral will be over, and I’ll be headed back. It’d just be a wasted trip.”

“I’d be with you, so not wasted,” Bradley countered. “You know I care about you, right? And if I need to drive all night just to make sure you’re okay, I’d do it.”

“I know, and I’m…thankful for you, Bradley,” I mumbled back. “It’s just that…I don’t know…I just…”

“You’re not ready for the commitment that I am,” he finished, softly. “You think I don’t know that, Sarah? That I’m not aware that I’m more invested in us than you are?”

“I’m sorry,” I apologized, and he shushed me. 

“Don’t apologize. I’d rather we be honest than have this lie hanging over us.” He shuffled around. “I’ll just have to step up my game, I guess. Make you fall I love with me.” 

“Falling in love with you wouldn’t be hard,” I smiled into the phone.

“So, you’re saying there’s a chance?” Bradley imitated Lloyd from _Dumb & Dumber,_ and despite my foul mood, I laughed out loud. He was always quoting movies, and always cracking jokes. So different than the super-serious vampire down the hall. 

“There’s always a chance with you. You’re a good guy. And I do care about you. I just want to be sure, you know?” I turned over and faced the wall. “I mean, I want kids one day. And a normal, boring life where we have dinner dates on Fridays and the kids have baseball games on Saturdays.” 

“And church on Sundays?” Bradley chuckled again. 

“Don’t know about that, but I guess we can talk about it at some point.” I knew faith was important to Bradley. It was one of the major things we weren’t compatible with. But it wasn’t a complete deal-breaker, either. 

“I love you, Sarah. And I know you haven’t said it yet, and that’s okay, but I just want you to know again that I do.”

“And I want to say I love you, Bradley. I do. But I want to be sure. I mean, I care about you and I can see myself with you, but I just don’t want to say something and not be sure of it.” 

“Can I ask you a question?” Bradley’s voice was deep, though the sleepiness of it was all gone. 

“Sure.”

“Is there someone else? I mean, I know about most of your boyfriends and you know about my girlfriends, and I feel like we’ve been honest, but I can’t help but feel like there’s something else holding you back. Like, maybe you’re not telling me everything. You can be honest with me. I’m not gonna be mad. And like I said, I’d rather we were truthful from the get-go.”

I pressed my lips tight, my sadness threatening to overwhelm me at how accepting Bradley was. My guilt washing over me at how forgiving he was. Part of me wanted to tell him everything, to confess what I’d tried to do earlier with Vlad, to admit that I was stupidly still carrying a torch for a vampire, and that I was borderline-obsessed with an undead killer, made all the worse by the fact that he didn’t seem to want me back… _But_ _I didn’t say a word._ Deep down, I really I just wanted to forget it all. Let it all die. 

“No. There’s no one else but you.” I smiled through my lie.

I declined again Bradley’s offer to come down, and after a few more minutes of random conversation, we hung up. He told me he loved me, and I said okay. 

Afterwards, I lay there in the dark, wondering what Vlad was doing down the hall. Wondering if he was restless like me, or if he was out doing his thing. I’d never seen him feeding, and while a part of me was curious, I was also glad that he’d never exposed me to that. A sad smile tugged at my lips; He always took care of me. 

* * *

_Outside the door to her room, Vlad was there, his forehead resting against the wood. He'd come to talk to her, to explain what had happened and what he'd done. To confess how far he'd gone just to see if it would work between them. To see if there was a chance. For all his long years and undead abilities, he was terrified to come clean, but knew it had to be done. Now, it didn't seem to matter. He was much too late. His eyes had closed as he listened to her one-sided conversation, and he was able to deduce enough to know that he had missed his chance. She loved another, and she was done with him._

_He drifted away from the door. That gaping hole where his heart should be was aching like the devil as he slowly made his way back to his room. He sat down in his chair by the window, reaching for his glass full of o+, and took a few sips to calm himself. He was on the verge of losing what was left of his mind and drinking right now was the equivalent of smoking a cigarette or taking a shot of whiskey. He took another long swallow, his eyes closed as he savored the richness of the lawyer’s blood._

_He knew that it would pass. This fleeting dream that he could somehow be normal and have a normal life. He had tried this one before, when he was first turned. Had tried to pretend that he was still able to live among the living. Had tried to fit in as much as possible, but it simply wasn’t doable. He was a creature of the night. A demon who drank blood for sustenance. He’d done so many things in the name of satiety that he knew there was no redemption for him. Not here and not with her, and not with anyone else._

_He would perhaps love her the rest of his life, however long that would be. He would just have to accept that it was done, and let her live her life with someone that could make her happy in all the ways she deserved._


	11. Chapter 11

_**The** **day after the funeral…** _

I walked back into the house, my only goal to take another long look around and drink it all in, as I knew I wouldn’t be coming back here any time soon. If ever. I made my way back up the stairs to Angie’s room, and went inside and sat on her bed. My fingers trailed over the blanket. The funeral was small, as Angie didn’t have much family save for that cousin and some friend, and Vlad wasn’t in attendance. My tutor that I’d had before was gone; Once I’d left, she’d also left, and hadn’t been back since. The only other people making up the group that attended were various staff, none that I knew very well any longer. I was so incredibly alone. 

Movement caught my eyes, and I looked up, seeing him in the doorframe. 

“Are you okay?” Vlad softy asked. 

“No.” I looked down at my folded hands in my lap. 

“I am sorry, I didn’t come. I hope you understand.” He remained in the doorway. 

“Yes, the preacher and all. I get it.” I gave a humorless smile. “You’d have hated it. The cousin was crying so loud. Like ridiculously loud. Angie would have hated it, too, I bet. All the carrying on. And, I don't even know who these people were. And, I thought it was going to rain, but it didn’t, and it was so sunny. I was burning up in my clothes.”

“Well, that sounds terrible,” Vlad grinned. “Truly.” 

“Yeah, lucky you’re not one of those that spontaneously combusts in the sun.” I looked up at him with a cheeky smile of my own. “Or the kind that glitters. ‘Cause you’d be super glittery today, I’m sure.” 

“Well, the sun doesn’t bother me like it does in your vampire movies, but it is incredibly draining and I’d just rather not deal with, when given the choice.” A smile permeated his words. “And I’ve told you, I don’t glitter.” He moved into the room, his hands still in his pockets. He took a look around the room, taking in the sparse decorations that Angie had used. 

“What will you do now?” I asked him. 

“I don’t know. The house seems so…empty now.” Vlad turned back to me, and I saw that he was slightly frowning, perhaps realizing just how true his words were about to become. Angie had been here for so long...

“You’re a solitary kinda guy, so that should suit you just fine,” I looked back down at my fingers and fiddled with my nails. 

“I don’t want to be alone, Sarah.” Vlad sat down on the bed next me, his weight dipping the mattress enough that I inched closer to him. Stubbornly, I held myself back with my feet firmly planted on the floor. He reached over and placed his hand over mine, and squeezed, and I felt that damned lump in my throat thicken. I swallowed down my sadness. 

“I just don’t want to go,” I quietly admitted. 

I moved my lower hand on top, and enveloped his between both mine. I leaned over and placed my head at his shoulder, unable to resist, and when hw turned his head and pressed his nose into my hair, I started crying again. _God._ _When would I stop crying?_ Vlad wrapped his arms around me and lifted me, carrying me like a baby, back down the hall to his room. My arms had looped over his neck, and I buried my face against his throat, wanting to savor every little minute left. I knew I only had hours before I was to leave. 

He laid me down on his bed, and leaned over me. On his face was a sweet smile, and his eyes were soft and brown, rich with so many promises. He pushed some hair back off my forehead, and pressed a sweet kiss there, before capturing my my eyes again with his. 

“Did you know that if I were to kiss you - _really kiss you as I wish to_ \- that I could take you away to someplace special?” Vlad reached up to caress my cheek, his fingers cool against my skin. “That I could make you dream. Whatever you wanted to dream, little one. I could do that for you.” He leaned in closer, his nostrils filled with my scent, and mine with his. “Would you like me to do that for you?” 

He traced the outline of my lips with one finger, leaving a lingering coolness in his wake. But his eyes...heaven help me, his eyes were burning with heat. I nodded that I did, that yes, I wanted him to kiss me just like that. 

“What would you like to dream of, my sweet Sarah?” He pressed a kiss at my forehead, and then at each temple. I looked up at him again. Trusting him, knowing he wasn’t going to hurt me. 

“You. And me. Together.” 

“Sarah…” Vlad hesitated, causing me to reach out and clasp at his waist. His dark eyes, now conflicted and pained, met mine. 

“It’s my dream. And if that is all I can have, then please let me have it.” I reached up, and tangled my fingers in the hair at the nape of his neck and pulled him down to me for a kiss. 

His lips on mine, instead of the expected cold, I felt a warmth start spreading through my body, a sort of tingling starting at my lips and working its way down throughout until it reached the soles of my feet. I didn’t know it, but I had gone limp under him, passing from one consciousness to the next. I was dazed, the colors and shadows and lights swimming as he moved me up the bed so that I lay on a pillow, arranged just how he wanted me. His face was blurry, and it made me feel like I was high, as if could pass out at any moment from the vertigo, and so I closed my eyes and focused on feeling him instead. Of breathing him in. With my eyes closed, _all I did was feel_. I felt his heavy weight atop me, and then his lips on mine again, and I was swallowed whole once more.

_I saw myself in a field, full of lavender flowers and green, green grass. Their blossoms swayed softly, and as I reached out and ran my fingers over their tops, I could smell them, the calmness. The sweetness. I smiled. Then I heard a familiar, deep and properly-accepted voice, and then another, much younger, and a man and a child appeared over the horizon, coming to me. I held up my hand to ward of the sun and see better, and my smile grew. It was Vlad. He was wearing dark pants, a white shirt, and suspenders. At his side, no taller than his waist, was a small boy. Dark hair, dark eyes that I could see from afar. Vlad’s eyes met mine and he smiled, and the boy tugged free and started running towards me. The child got closer, and I could see he had Vlad’s full lips and my smaller nose. Dark eyebrows, tanned skin. That dark mop of hair atop his head was all Vlad’s, though it did have a curl to it along his little nape; a mixture of the two. I scooped the boy up, wrapping my arms around him and hugged him tight._

_“Mama!” The boy squealed against my neck, and I felt tears of happiness in my eyes.  
_

_Then Vlad was standing before me, looking as handsome as ever, and in his eyes shone light and love and all the things that I’d ever wanted from him. He stepped closer and enveloped me and our son in a tight embrace, and I felt happiness so warm as the sun, and I had never been happier...But then things started fading away. Vlad and the boy – our son – were moving away, disappearing. I tried to reach out and grab them, to hold onto them a bit longer, but they were fading, moving further and further out of my grasp and my vision until I could no longer see them. I wanted to scream at the unfairness._

My eyes popped open to see Vlad above me, his eyes red-rimmed and blood-shot, and I reached up to caress his cheek. He pressed his lips in sorrow. 

“That is my truth, little one. I will never be able to give you that.” 

“I don’t care.” I tried to reach up and kiss him again so that I could have the dream back, but he pulled away. 

“You will care, Sarah. One day, you’ll realize all that you’re missing out on, and you’ll care. And I can’t take that from you, no matter how much I want you by my side.”

“Do you love me?”

He nodded. “With everything in me, I do.” 

“Make love to me.” I reached up and curled my fingers into the hair at the back of his neck, pulling at him again. 

He stared down at me, his face pained with emotion, and lips pressed tight. I could see the conflict in his beautiful face. I smoothed a finger over his lips and smiled up at him. “I love you, Vlad. I think I have since forever, and I want you.” 

He pulled back, crawling away from me, and sat at the end of the bed, his back to me. I watched his profile in the dim light, the way his jaw was so rigid. The way he uncharacteristically fidgeted with his fingers at his thighs, I knew just instinctively knew that whatever was coming next was not going to be good. 

“After our…interaction yesterday...I went out.” 

I sat up. “To feed?” 

A deep sigh came from him. A hand swiped over the back of his neck and then down his face as if he were wiping something away. “That’s one way to put it.” 

“Just tell me. Whatever it is, tell me.” I could feel unease creeping up my back. 

“I had sex with someone.” 

My jaw dropped open as the wrecking ball I was not expecting slammed right into me. I felt my stomach shake and quiver, and my breath leave my body at his words. Shock was an understatement and I found myself blinking rapidly as if I could somehow clear away those words and erase them from my mind _if I just_ _blinked hard enough_. Almost immediately, images of him with someone else flooded my mind, making me nauseous and disgusted. I blinked harder. _Was I crying again?_

“I found someone at a bar, and I took her to a hotel nearby, and I had sex with her.” 

Another punch to my gut. Another strike at my heart. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t say anything.

“What are you thinking right now?” He tilted his head up to look at the ceiling. 

“I…I don’t know what I’m thinking… _I ughh_ …” I cleared my throat as I pressed the pads of my fingers against my eyelids. _Was this what shock felt like?_ My heart was beating wildly and I wondered if I was about to die. 

“I can hear your heart beating, Sarah.” He gave a sideways look at me, then looked away again. “Talk to me, please.” 

“I offered myself to you. Repeatedly.” The first wave of tears started flooding my eyes. Yes, I was crying. Again. 

“Yes.” His head tipped downwards. 

“But you turned me away. And then you went out and found someone else.” I swiped at my face with my hand. I felt the heat rising in my cheeks at his betrayal. It was no longer irritation, but rage that was growing steadily by the second. 

“I needed to see if I could do it, and not hurt you.” He shrugged his shoulders, seemingly knowing that whatever he was going to offer by way of explanation would not be received well. Or accepted. And he was right. I gaped at him for a moment, then let out an incredulous laugh. 

“Okay, so you went out and fucked someone just to see if you could? And you're gonna sit there and claim it was done for me?" I was so mad my lips were twitching. _How fucking stupid did he think I was?_ If he didn’t want me, he should’ve just said so. Then in the same breath I reminded myself that he had turned me away so many times, and it was always me that kept badgering him. _What did I expect from him, if not this?_ I began crawling off the bed, but Vlad reached out and stopped me with a hand at my wrist. 

“Don’t leave like this.” 

I jerked away from him. Fury was etched all over my face.

"If I had sex with you, and wasn't able to control myself, I would have never forgiven myself," Vlad tried again. 

"So, I guess I should be thanking you, huh?" I crossed my arms over my chest. "No, I really should be thanking your little whore for taking one for the team, shouldn't I?"

"Look, when you calm down and think this through, I'm sure you'll see what I was trying to do." He bowed his head again. "And why I had to do it." 

"No, I won't." I shook my head emphatically, then finished making my way off the bed.

I stood on the other side, thinking how ironic it was that all the fights we've ever had have been in this room, and about this very thing: my want of him, and in reverse, his refusal of me. I looked at him, and he looked at me. Moments went by, the only sound that of my heartbeat thundering in my ear. He held up a hand. 

"I can hear how upset you are, Sarah. Please-"

Whatever he was going to say was cut off when I launched an empty glass at his face. At the last moment, he moved, and I frustratedly knew it was because he was just so damn fast. The glass shattered on the far wall, sending shards of glass all over the floor. I glared, knowing I would have never hit him, no matter how hard I tried, and if pissed me off that much more. I turned back to his bedside table and began throwing more things, enraged and completely out of my mind. A phone charger box, complete with cord ripped from the wall. The damn lamp. His wallet. I was reaching for something else when I felt his arms wrap around me, and pull me back into his chest. His voice was deadly low at my ear. 

"Are you quite done?" 

"Fuck you!" I spat as I tried to wriggle from his arms, knowing it was no good. 

"Don't ever throw anything at me." One hand snaked up to reach around and clasp my throat, just tight enough to threaten my breathing. He squeezed. “Ever again." 

I struggled, trying to move, but found it impossible. His lips ghosted along the shell of my ear, and despite how mad I was, and despite how hurt I was, I found myself melting in his arms. Just as I knew I always would. Just as he knew...

"I can hear the change in your pulse," his tongue snaked out and licked at the very edge of my lobe, and I couldn't hide the moan the escaped. "I know you want me, just as much as I want you." 

"I hate you." 

"I'm sure you do," he took the edge of my ear in his teeth and lightly bit down.

Another broken whimper pulled from my body.

His fingers splayed as they cupped not only my throat, but the edge of my jaw. He nibbled down the column of my neck, paying just enough attention to my pulsing vein to raise my heart rate just a bit more. He smiled into my neck, and then bit down ever-so-lightly at the blue line under my skin. I shivered, but did not draw away. 

"Are you scared?" He licked where he’d bitten, soothing the mark that was not-quite broken skin. 

"No."

My hands relaxed their tight grip on his forearms, and I felt my knees weaken when he moved to the other side and kissed me the same. His one arm, holding me across my ribs, was the only thing keeping me standing. The fingers of that hand were dangerously close to brushing the underside of my breast, and I felt myself begin trembling in his arms. I reached behind and cupped the back of his head, tilting my head and offering myself to him.

“Please don't stop..." I was a whimpering, squirming mess, and I didn’t care. Not one bit.

“You have absolutely no idea what you do to me, do you?” Vlad switched to the other side of my neck, pushing my hair away so that he could press open-mouth kisses against my skin. “No bloody idea how you could sink me to my knees...” 

“Vlad...” I grabbed his hand, dragged it up and placed it over my breast. I bit my lip as he cupped me through my shirt, and when his thumb ghosted over my pebbled nipple, I felt the wetness begin seeping between my thighs. I was on the verge of begging him to make love to me when he stilled. 

Vlad lifted his head, his keen ears hearing more than most. 

“Ignore it, please.” I begged as I turned around in his arms. I ran my hands up his chest, trying to bring him back. “Vlad!”

“I think you need to go downstairs.” He pulled away from me, his face now clouded and distant as he retreated.   
  
The doorbell rang, it’s loud _ding-dong_ echoing throughout the house. I wanted to scream with frustration, to shout the whole damn house down. I met his eyes again, and if it was possible, he looked even darker than before. I swallowed. 

“Vlad?”

”Please just go downstairs and handle it, Sarah.” He stepped back, withdrawing further. “Please.”   
  
Aggravated beyond all belief, I threw my hands up in the air as I made my way to the door. I ran down the stairs, hoping I’d get rid of the guest, and go back to Vlad to finish what we’d just started. But as soon as I landed in the foyer, and could see the dim outline through the frosted glass, I knew that whatever Vlad and I had was over. _God please no._ I reluctantly opened the door, and forced a smile as it swung wide, hoping against hope that I was wrong in my assumption of who was stood on the other side. The smile quickly disappeared, taking all hope with it, as the second wrecking ball of the day stared back at me, blue eyes glinting in the sun.

_Could this day get any worse_? 


	12. Chapter 12

**I stood there in shock.**

“Well, are you going to invite me in?” Bradley asked. I nearly choked, thinking how ironic it was for him to be asking for an invite into the vampire’s residence.

“Bradley, I don’t…I...” I was stammering, completely at a loss, when I felt a presence behind me. Bradley looked over my head and his smile widened. 

“You must be her guardian.” Bradley held out his hand in offer. “I’m Bradley. Sarah’s boyfriend.” 

I really did choke this time. I turned around to see Vlad’s face, expecting something, anything, really, but all I saw was an easy smile as he reached out and took Bradley’s hand in his. 

“Pleasure to meet you, Bradley.” Vlad released his hand and stepped back in welcome. “And do please come inside.No need to stand out there and get a sunburn.”

Bradley came in the house, and I was still gaping. He gave me a quick hug, but I could see that he was as equally preoccupied with Vlad as the vampire was with him. And being that I was not yet recovered from what had just happened with Vlad and I, how was I expected to pretend like I was happy to see my boyfriend just randomly show up like this? After I’d told him not to! I closed the door behind them both, and followed them into the large living area. 

“Have a seat, Bradley,” Vlad beckoned to the sofa. The vampire adjusted his jacket over his dark shirt, looking very much like the businessman. Bradley sat down, and held out his hand for me to take. I did so, and sat at his side, my skin crawling as he wrapped a heavy arm around my shoulder and pulled me close to him. He pressed a kiss at my temple. 

“I’m sorry I came like this. I just had to. You didn’t sound good on the phone.” Another kiss on my temple. I felt Vlad’s eyes burning into me, and when I dared a look at him, his eyes were indeed trained on me. And dark as night, burning with a quiet fire that I could see. His gaze left me for the man at my side. 

“Nonsense, Bradley! One should never apologize for doing all they can for the one they love,” Vlad's lips quirked up in a mock smile. “Don’t you agree, Sarah?” 

“Uhmm, yeah sure. I suppose.” I glared at him, then turned back to Bradley. “How did you find us?” I blushed at that whole question, feeling as if it was so loaded.

“Well, I snooped through some mail you’d left at my place. I saw your old FAFSA app there. Home of record was on there. And I asked questions when I got here. I said I was here to attend a funeral, and the store clerk asked if it was the old place on the west end and I said that I thought so. They all seemed to know you guys. One old lady was speaking in Spanish or something, I couldn’t understand, but I think she was praying for me. Kept telling me ‘no’. I have no idea what that was about though.” He turned a sheepish smile to Vlad. “I’m sorry, Mr…?”

“Vlad,” the vampire smiled, revealing perfectly normal teeth. My heart was pounding in my chest, and I saw that Vlad noticed as one of his dark brows quirked up just a bit. Bradley huffed out a laugh, and looked between the two of us, clearly not believing what he was hearing. 

“Your name is Vlad? Like the vampire?” 

Vlad gave a toothy grin. “One and the same.” 

“No way!” Bradley laughed again. “That’s so cool! How did you get a name like that?” 

“It was given to me by my parents, I suppose,” Vlad leaned forward. “Tell me, Bradley, what blood type are you?” 

Bradley laughed again and I cringed. He had no idea how close he was dancing to the fire. “Why? Are you gonna drink my blood?” 

“I’m contemplating that very thing.” Vlad’s smile was terrifying to all those who knew what he was capable of. To Bradley, it was all in good fun. 

“This is your dad, Sarah?” Bradley continued laughing as he squeezed my thigh with his big hand. Vlad's gaze flickered down to my leg and Bradley's hand. All my boyfriend saw was the humor of an older man with a cool name joking around. I, however, saw the dark look pass over Vlad’s face, the flare of his nostrils, and I knew this was not going good at all. 

“Guardian,” I mumbled quietly. 

“What are your intentions with her?” Vlad asked, point blank, and both Bradley and I sobered. For different reasons. 

“Well, I mean…I love her, if that’s what you’re asking.” He squeezed my thigh again. “I hope she loves me, but I’m still working on it. We’ve talked a little about marriage, but she’s not ready yet.” 

All I could do was die a little more and hope the couch would open up, suck me in-between the cushions, and swallow me whole. 

“She is a very special girl, our Sarah,” Vlad murmured. His eyes were on mine, and just the barest hint of a smile on his lips. I shook my head at him in warning, just enough that he would notice. My eyes were begging him to please not go any further, to just let us be done. His eyes challenged me. 

“She is indeed,” Bradley agreed. Vlad’s eyes snapped up to meet his. 

“And I hope you always remember that. Because if you hurt her, you must know that I’d have to kill you.” 

Bradley started laughing, but it died away when he saw the serious look on Vlad’s face, and I could hear him audibly swallow next to me. I shot daggers at Vlad. 

“I think we’re about done here, don’t you think?” I slapped my hand down on Bradley’s thigh, a tight smile plastered on my face as I shot a death-glare at Vlad. He winked at me. The bastard. 

"Yes, I think you should both run along now. What with everyone's hearts racing, it's entirely too tense." Vlad agreed. He stood up and adjusted his jacket over his shirt. “I myself am going to take a nap, and then head out for a bite to eat.” 

I felt my face flush with renewed anger at his insinuation, and I couldn’t resist saying something. “Tell her I said hello.” I stood up in a huff, and Bradley came with me, his hand at my lower back. 

“As you wish,” Vlad retorted with a smile. 

“I hate you.” I smiled back at him, so very sweetly. 

“We have a complicated relationship, Sarah and I,” Vlad explained to Bradley over the top of my head. “But deep down, she loves me.” His eyes landed on my face, deep and dark. “And I her.” 

I said nothing as I crossed my arms over my chest. Bradley shook Vlad’s hand again, and thanked him for taking care of me, and then Vlad was gone. I tried to not be annoyed with Bradley, but I was so damn pissed. And I knew he didn’t deserve any of it, but my frustration was there just the same. Bradley tried to take me in his arms, but I resisted, and decided to instead sit back down on the couch. My arms were crossed over my chest. He sat down again.

“You’re mad at me?” 

“I’m not mad. I just told you not to come, and…” I trailed off, knowing I had no good explanation that wouldn’t break Bradley’s heart.

“Yeah, I know, but I was so worried about you.” He leaned back and pulled me into his chest. “I was thinking, why don’t we stay another night down here? We can skip class tomorrow.” 

I leaned forward, cupping my forehead in my hands. “That is such a bad idea. You have no idea how bad of an idea it is.” 

“Why? Your dad? We can get a hotel room.” Bradley tugged one of my hands free and laced his fingers with mine. “Look, I know you’re upset, and I know that I just showed up, and I get it. When my grandma died, I was also really out of it fo—”

I shot to my feet, annoyed with all these men telling me how to feel.

“No, Bradley, you don’t get it! Yes, I lost Angie, and yes, I have a complicated relationship with…with… _with my dad_ ” — I yelled this part loudly so the vampire upstairs could hear — “But I don’t need you to come and rescue me any more than I do him! What I need is to be listened to. To be heard. When I tell you I feel one way, you need to hear me! And when I tell you I don’t feel one way, you need to hear that too!” I grabbed a bottle of water and chugged it down like it was alcohol. When I was done, I slammed it down on the coffee table in the most dramatic of ways. “God! I fucking swear!” I started pacing, my hands on my hips. “Always fucking men, telling me what I should feel and what I should do, and what I should wear, and what I should do! Fucking fuck!” 

“Sarah, babe, I think you need to calm down,” Bradley stood up, his hands up. 

“No, I don’t need to calm down! Stop telling me to calm down!” I screamed at him. Bradley blanched. 

“Should I go? Do you want me to leave then? ‘Cause I’m not okay with this, with all this screaming.”

“You should have never come in the first place!” I screamed again. Bradley’s shoulders dropped, and I immediately felt bad for being so shitty. I tried to go to him, to apologize, but he shrugged me off. 

“No, I think we need to take a break. I’m gonna go and get a room somewhere.” He stopped at the door. “Text me if you want to talk.” He walked out the door and then he was also gone. 

I sank down on the couch, my hands shaking and my head pounding from all the stress. The grandfather clock in the hall chimed, it’s rhythmic ticking aggravating me even more. 

“Do you care for him?” 

“Go away.” I sniffled into my hands. “This is all your fault. Just go away.” 

“My fault? How on earth is it all my fault?” Vlad asked as he came back into the room. 

“You just…you’re just…” I was a stammering, aggravated, emotional mess.

_“I’m just what?_ ” Vlad mocked. “Have I ever pretended to be anything I’m not?” 

“You told me you loved me, and you wanted me,” I glared up at him from tear-filled eyes. “You told me that, and if he hadn’t showed up, we’d still be up there together.”

“Yes, I do love you. And I have always wanted you. Just as much as I’ve wanted any other warm-bodied, blood-filled human being.” 

I shook my head at him. “You don’t mean that. Not like that.”

“Then tell me, what did I mean?” 

“You said you loved me with your whole being.” I wiped at my face. “You said that, Vlad.”

“And I do love you, much as one loves a good wine. Or blood type, in my case.” 

I shook my head again, though the first little niggling tendrils of doubt had started worming their way up my body and into my heart. Why was he talking like this? Why did it hurt so bad? Was he being honest? Did he really just want to consume me? To kill me? I knew Vlad was a killer, and I knew he was the best at seducing to get what he wanted, but was he doing that with me right now? I felt my heart tighten painfully when I realized that I truly didn’t know. I had always assumed he’d never hurt me, but now I supposed there was more than one way for a vampire to hurt someone…

“Ahh, there it is. Your tell-tale heart,” Vlad murmured. “Always giving you away. Revealing all your dirty little secrets.” 

“You’re just trying to get rid of me…”

“And why would I do that?” Vlad’s voice was soft. 

“Because of your stupid idea that I need babies to be happy! Because you’re a vampire! And you're afraid you're going to hurt me.” I took in ragged breath as I stood up, my hands flailing about wildly. “God forbid I should love someone like you!”

“Well there’s a name I’d love to forget.” He sighed. He began pacing, slowly. Annoyingly. “Do you have any idea how stupid you sound right now?”

I reeled back as if he’d physically slapped me, so harsh were those words he aimed in my direction. It was like my father all over again, his drunken words telling me how dumb I was, and how stupid I was to think he’d ever let me leave him or our house. That I deserved to get hit and beaten and slapped. That no one would ever want me. That I was an idiot for thinking my grandmother wanted me after what I’d done to my mother, her daughter. My tears dried up and I was left hollow and numb. Devoid of emotion. I felt small again. 

“That boy loves you. He wants to love you and take care of you, and you’re just pissing it away as if it were nothing. How can you be so ignorant?” 

“I’m not that little kid anymore, and you can’t dictate what I can and can’t do! No one can tell me what to do or who to do it with!” I whispered angrily. When I looked up, I saw that Vlad’s eyes were angry, not red, but angry enough to be seen. The frown was deeply etched on his face. 

“No, you’re not a kid anymore, and you’re right, I can’t dictate your life, much as I would like to.” He walked back over to me and stopped, a foot away. “But I won’t let you throw away a chance at a good life – a normal life – for some delusional fantasy you have in your head!” 

I started crying again. “You can’t tell me that you’ve never felt something for me! Am I that blind? All the time we spent together, and you feel nothing? What about earlier? Was that nothing?” 

Vlad nodded. “That’s exactly right. Nothing.”

I shook my head from side to side. “No. You’re lying.” 

“You’re the one who’s lying.” He moved closer, and I shivered at how cold he now looked. How distant from me he felt. He lifted his chin to peer down his nose at me. “To yourself, Sarah. The only thing I’ve ever lied about was denying how desperately I’ve wanted to rip your throat out and drink my fill.” 

I gasped at his words, and stumbled again, this time trying to find somewhere to land. Clumsily, I tripped over my own feet and landed in a heap on the floor. Vlad stood in the same spot, staring down at me. Cold, uncaring. Unbothered. 

“You are nothing more than a warm body to me, Sarah. I have enjoyed your company, childish as it was, but if you think I have ever wanted you for anything more than a snack, then you are the one lying to yourself.” 

“You’re lying,” was all I could manage to whisper, my throat so choked up I could barely breathe. Vlad turned away from me and headed to the door. 

“Grow up, Sarah. Go home with your boy and have a great life. The world is an evil place. I am sorry you’ve been too sheltered to see that.” He reached the stairs, his hand on the banister. 

“I fucking hate you. If you leave now, I will never in my whole life contact you again!” I screamed at his back. “I swear!” 

Vlad stiffened at my threat but did not turn around as he continued up the steps. “And that’s exactly how it should be.”

“Where are you going?” I stood up, unable to help myself. I was on the verge of begging him to stay and not go find her, or any other woman. 

“Where do you think I’m going? What did I tell you earlier?” His words were laced with aggravation. He turned around, halfway up the stairs, pinning me with his dark gaze. “Do you want to come with me? To see how I do it?” 

I shook my head. As fast as lighting, he came back down the stairs, approaching me again. I cowered this time, not sure what was happening. I could hear something in his voice that frightened me. 

“Are you sure? What’s the matter? Not so sure about me now when confronted with the reality of what I really am?” He stopped a few feet from me. 

“Just stop, please.” 

He moved closer. “Why should I stop?” He reached out and placed his cold hand at my neck. His thumb idly traced over my vein, and I knew he could feel how hard my heart was beating. “Why don’t you want to see exactly who I am and what I’m capable of?” 

“Vlad—”

He squeezed my throat in his hand, and his eyes were as dark as I’d ever seen them when he looked down at me. His lips were pressed taut, and in that moment, I felt nothing but hatred from him. Raw, burning hatred. He sneered. “Go away. And do not come back.” 

He released me, and I crumpled to my knees. He stalked away, and then it was quiet. I collected myself and my things, knowing that I was no longer welcome, and left. I found Bradley at a local hotel, and we made up. Somehwat. I vowed that I was going to move on. That I was going to forget Vlad, and this island, and everything about this place. 

* * *

Vlad paced along the edge of the seawall, his intent on finding his next meal. His thoughts never strayed from her, though, and he hated himself and her for it. He hadn't wanted to leave her, but he knew he had to. For if he had stayed any longer, she would be in his bed, in his arms, right this very minute. And her chance at a normal life would be gone. The salt in the air was strong, the wind coming off the ocean biting in its intensity, but he paid no mind. 

_How dare she?_

_How dare she fall in love with him?_

His jaw hardened as his eyes landed on a couple sat the end of one of the piers leading out over the ocean. 

She was a stupid, idiotic girl, and she had the whole world at her feet, and she was going to give it all up to be with him. How foolish. His eyes narrowed as he watched the couple on the dock embrace, and then kiss. His thoughts turned back to her. Her mouth. Her embrace. The taste of her mouth and skin, the feeling of her lips on his, the way her hands held him so tightly. She offered herself to him so freely. He had not been wanted like that in so very long that the intensity in which she showed him was almost overwhelming. It wasn’t very often that he was rendered speechless, but she had done it. He could feel it seeping off of her, could smell how much she wanted him in her arousal and it scared the shit out of him. He could never lose control with her, and it was with her that he feared he would most certainly do so. Having sex with some random woman was one thing, having sex with someone who threatened to consume him, and he her, was another thing entirely. He just couldn't do it. 

She loved him. 

_She loved him._

The couple continued kissing, their hands roaming over each other’s body, and Vlad felt the that strangest of feelings come again. Somewhere in the area of his heart, he felt a burning ache. His hand traveled there, scratching at his skin in wonder, just as he’d done last time. His mind turned to Sarah. She’d be with him right now. His eyes roamed along the Seawall Boulevard, wondering which of these hotels she was put up in. She and her boyfriend…the man he could never be…That spot over his heart began aching again, and he wondered if he was feeling heartache? It had been so long that he’d felt anything for anyone. What he’d felt and experienced with Agatha, and then Zoe, paled in comparison to what he felt for Sarah. Sweet, innocent, headstrong Sarah. The girl that used to fight him at every turn, the girl that would have given him grey hairs had she been born his daughter. The girl that drove him absolutely insane with both worry and happiness had grown up before his eyes, and had now become a beautiful woman. And he’d be lying through his bloody teeth if he denied that he didn’t love her in whatever way he could, and that he must admit, that what was left of his heart, that it belonged to her and her alone. And now, the woman that he had somehow grown to love over these past ten years, had just slipped through his fingers again. And it was of his own doing. He knew that if he gave her the slightest encouragement, she would come running back to him. A part of him wanted to do just that. The selfish part that wanted things he couldn't have. 

He scowled. _What a fool he was._

He had to be the voice of reason in this matter. There was no life to be had between a vampire and a mortal. And Sarah would never want to be changed. She’d said that repeatedly in response to the many times they’d joked about it. She wanted babies and dogs and cats and a farm. She would never be able to stand at his side, and accept him for what he was, and he would never be able to give her what she wanted. He and she both had to accept that he was what he was, and what he was was no good for either of them. 

_A monster. A beast. Cursed to walk alone, to be alone._

He pushed off the railing, his hunger renewed and emotions awash with anger, and made his way down to the pier. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really don't like how this is going. Forgive me for writing shit. My head's in a weird place at the moment with work and stuff.


	13. Chapter 13

We decided to stay on the island one more night and leave in the morning. I honestly wasn't sure if it was because I was that tired, or if I just didn't want to leave yet. I guess it didn't really matter, though...

As I lay awake that night in the hotel bed, long after Bradley had fallen asleep next to me, I was still toying with the small prick inside my lower lip, alternating between my tongue and my finger. Just a small bump, nothing more. I’d not felt it before this hotel room, and not until Bradley and I had made such passionate make-up sex. We’d both laughed thinking we were so out of control in our need to make amends that he’d busted my lip, but almost immediately, I knew. _I knew._

I knew who had caused the tiny laceration inside my lip, and I knew it wasn’t Bradley. 

I didn’t know if I was supposed to be flattered or offended that Vlad had really tasted me, and that he’d done so without telling me or asking me. Was I to assume a vampire would ask to drink from someone? Vlad and I were so complicated, so I had no idea what the rules were between us. But I knew I was sad and hurt, and now, I felt rejected even more. Because I knew that if he had tasted me, then he would have seen what was in me, what my feelings for him were in all their wretched honesty. And by tasting me, he would've seen those emotions, and therefore that meant he had again made a very conscious decision to disregard everything that I was feeling for him. I licked at the small mark again, no bigger than a pin prick. It could have passed for an injury sustained while eating too many chips, so small was it. I toyed with it, trying to see if it would reopen, but it would not now. It had only bled that one time, maybe a reminder, but now it was sealed over. It was no more than a bump, inconspicuous and easily passed over. But I knew it was there. A painless, painful reminder of our time together. 

My eyes welled at the dream. Of seeing Vlad and our son – because I knew that was the very picture he’d give me. _Our son,_ _together._ And I wondered if he gave me that very image just to make me feel even more hopeless at what I could never have with him. Part of me hated him for doing such a disgusting thing, while a smaller part would forever be grateful for seeing such unattainable happiness. I pressed my tongue at the bump. I vaguely recalled, how when I woke from that dream that Vlad had given me, I remembered how red and angry his eyes were, and now it all made sense. How intensely he was looking down at me. How strained he appeared. At the time, I suppose I was just too wrapped up in the dream to put all the puzzle pieces together, but now, hours later, it all made sense. 

My heart ached when I thought about him going out and having sex with another woman. He’d said he’d done it to see if it could be done. But how do I trust that? Logically, I could see, just maybe, what he’d been trying to do, given that he didn’t need to have sex. But Vlad had never professed wanting to be with me. Sure, he said he wanted me, and that he loved me. But now I wasn’t so sure. Did he want me for my blood, or did he want me? If he had talked to me prior, would I have understood better his cause? _It didn’t matter,_ I reminded. **He didn’t want me.**

I turned over and stared at Bradley’s profile in the dark. Guilt washed over me in waves. By any rights he was an amazing man, and so much more than I deserved. But he wasn’t Vlad. 

None of them would ever be Vlad. 

* * *

Vlad was stalking the clubs, moving from one victim to the next. The couple on the beach had done little to satisfy his burning thirst, and now he was doing level his best to get the taste of her out of his mouth by drinking as many victims as he could possible stomach.

_The taste of Sarah._

It was the tiniest of bites, a minuscule prick from his left incisor, and just enough for him to see if he could do it and not lose his mind with her. He wasn't even sure she had noticed. But him? Well, he was still reeling from the taste. Though his memory was foggy in the details of when he’d last consumed actual food, in his mind, he knew that Sarah tasted like the sweetest mixture of rich cinnamon and aged-whiskey, the fragrant spiciness and smooth warmth, all wrapped up in one utterly delicious package. She was intoxicating, and he had nearly come undone with just the tiniest drop of her sweet blood on his tongue. He’d known the moment his lips had met hers that he had to have a taste, _that he was going to taste her._ He had to see just exactly what she would feel like on his tongue, and now he would spend all the rest of his eternity wishing he never knew. 

_She loved him._

Damn her foolishness, but she loved him. Everything she’d said to him was true. **Every. Damn. Word.**

He could taste her affection for him in her blood, could taste how much she wanted him. How much she needed him, and it hurt for him to realize just how long she’d been nursing this affection for him. 

Images of her as a kid flashed through his mind. When she'd first come, her peeking around her corner to watch him doing whatever he was doing in the study, just a kid watching her hero. Her journaling late at night, writing silly stories about him where he was her savior and she his princess, and they lived happily ever after. How her dreams had changed once she realized what he was, and how her desire for him had morphed as she grew in age and maturity. Painting him in her own artistic way. The sadness on her face when he’d brought a woman back to the house to feed, as Sarah had assumed it was something else entirely. If only she knew how he wanted to claim her since the moment he saw her, how desperately he wanted to taste her sweetness, to have her offer herself to him freely, and how he wanted to be able to do so without hurting her. Her sadness spoke of hurt and betrayal, the sadness of wanting someone who didn’t want you back, and he felt it keenly in his gut and in the area of his heart. A gaping hole, dark and empty and unfulfilled. The lonely dark that never went away, no matter how many times he drank from someone, no matter how many times he killed and drank his fill. He was never satisfied. 

It never went away. 

_She loved him._

More than he deserved. He was a beast, a monster. A mindless freak with one thing always on his mind, much as he tried to pretend otherwise. No matter how many times he stepped out in the sun, no matter how much clothes and gadgets he bought, and no matter how many times he slept in a bed to pretend he didn’t need his box of dirt, in the end, the fact remained: He was a vampire, an undead monster who feasted on blood. And no matter how he wished otherwise, or how he pretended to be something he was not, he would never be anything but. 

And she would give up everything to be with him. He was most certain of that. 

His jaw hardened in frustration. He couldn’t let that happen. She had to at least go and try to live a normal life, to see if she could be happy. He had to let her go. And if that meant saying the vilest, most hateful things to her to make her hate him, then that was what needed to be done. He despised himself increasingly more with every second that passed for what he’d told her earlier, how he’d so callously proclaimed how little he cared for her. How he’d discarded her as if she meant nothing to him… _If she only knew._

His eyes landed on another victim, and older lady, sitting forlorn and lonely at the end of the bar, nursing a glass of some dark, amber liquid as she watched some game on the overhead television. He adjusted his jacket, and smoothed back his hair, a smile on his face. This one would be entirely too easy and would come with the benefit of years of knowledge and life-lived, and, he hoped, a whole slew of memories, enough to make him forget a certain woman who’s heart he continued to break…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a minor fix-it there I had to address...
> 
> And also, the next chapter is long, so I had to break it up. I think this will be finished here shortly. 
> 
> As always, thanks for reading and commenting :-)


	14. Chapter 14

**5 years later…**

I was sat on the floor of my bridal suite, bunches of my dress in my hand, and blood on my fingers and mouth. In my haste to shave my legs, I had swiped too far right and nicked not only my leg, but now the tip of my finger picking up the damned razor. I was so damned clumsy. I stuck the finger in my mouth, sucking the blood off, and as soon as the bitter, metallic flavor touched my tongue, I was reminded of him. Of Vlad. Blood always did that, no matter the cause. I fingered at the spot inside my lip, the tiny bump that had never gone away, and I wondered if it would always be there, a physical mark on my body left by him. A reminder of things that had been and things that would never be. I don’t know if it was the day or the emotions or what, but my eyes filled with tears at the memories, and that was how Brenda, Bradley’s mom, found me. Crying, slumped on the floor, spots of blood on my white dress and makeup smeared. Why did he still affect me so much? I both hated and loved him, equally. 

“What on earth happened, Sarah?? What happened to your dress?” The older woman knelt down at my side, out of breath and out of sorts. “Is that blood? Sarah? What happened?” 

“I cut myself shaving,” Tears rolled down my cheeks. “And now it’s all ruined. Everything’s ruined.” 

“Oh no, hunny! We’ll get it all fixed, don’t you worry!” Brenda left the room to gather reinforcements, and when they came back, I sat there as they fixed me up again, but I knew that I would never be okay. Even when I felt okay, there was always something _not okay._

I stared at myself in the mirror, and myself stared back.

A stupid, small part of me thought he’d be here. Had hoped that he would. That he would show up uninvited. I thought he would come for me, that he would come and say it had all been a lie, and that he’d admit that he loved me, too, and that he wanted me. That he realized what a mistake he’d made, and he was sorry. That I didn’t have to settle with this relationship in the name of being normal. But he never came. And I was alone, just like I had always been. Even surrounded by so many people, I was alone. Always alone. My heart was still broken, even after all these years, and I knew there was no fixing this. Not in this lifetime or the next. He had hurt me too bad, and it lingered. It was relentless, no matter what job I had, or what a great guy I had in Bradley. The memory of him never left me alone for very long. 

And so, after Bradley proposed to me at least twice a year for the past 4 years, I finally agreed, and I went through with the wedding. At the end of the day, just as the clock stuck 7, I walked down the aisle, accompanied by Brenda, Bradley’s mom, who would give me away. My makeup had been repaired, and my dress had been cleaned as much as possible. Bradley had beamed at me, so in love with me that it made me physically ill, but I went through with it. I had to make a decision about my life, and this was what I had chosen. There was no turning back now. _He wasn’t coming back for me_. When we finished exchanging vows, I had to stifle my whimper when Bradly kissed me so vigorously. My groom was too blind to see, too joyful, and assumed my tears were those of happiness. We smiled out at the cheering crowd, and my eyes still searched for him. 

I sat at the bride and groom’s table, smiling as best as possible, long into the night. I barely heard the toasts and well-wishes, barely blinked as we opened gifts. The cake was a flavorless mouthful. When the first dance came, I was saddened again, remembering that I had no one to dance with other than my groom. No father. No guardian. _No one._ Part of me felt like I’d just been sentenced to serve some terrible term, that I was locked in to some contract that I already wanted out of. It was a choking sense of panic, and I forced myself to push it aside and focus on the positive. I had a good husband, a man that loved me and provided for me. I needed to be grateful and remember that. I hoped this sinking feeling would pass. 

That night, as Bradley made desperate love to me in our hotel room in Baton Rouge, I found myself under him, staring up at the ceiling, my vision jarring with thrust after thrust, and found that all I could think about was Vlad. His dark eyes, and face weathered with age in the form of lines and wrinkles. His thick, dark hair. His cold embrace that had held me so many times when I’d cried. His strong arms and smooth voice that had comforted me. His wit, his sarcasm. His guidance. A tear rolled from my eye, trekked down my cheek, and landed on my pillow. Bradley finally finished and leaned up to stare down at me. 

“Did I hurt you?” He asked, seeing my eyes so watery. I gave a wobbly smile. 

“No! I’m just so happy, is all,” I forced the lie past my lips. “Hug me.” I pulled him back down to me, and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. His lips found my jaw and my neck, and I reminded myself that I cared about this man. I did. I married him, and I cared about him, and I needed to make this life work. 

But he wasn’t him. He wasn’t Vlad. He would never, ever be him. 

* * *

The marriage lasted barely a year before I was filing divorce papers. In the time before we married, I had already suffered two miscarriages. This third one, fast on the heels of our 6-month anniversary, put an incredible strain on an already-strained marriage. For my part, I felt that I had tried to make it work with Bradley. I really had. But my heartbreak with Vlad remained, no matter the years that had come and gone. It was too strong. Too damaging and too consuming. And I thought that if I could just have a baby, maybe that would further me from _him,_ and I could finally be happy with someone else. But month after month came with nothing, and it began to wear on my person. My annoyance, my feeling of being a failure as a woman and a wife, it bled over into the marriage and tainted it. So much so, that on one of the nights we'd been trying to conceive, I had mistakenly called out “Vlad” instead of Bradley, and that had led to the fight that would end it all. 

“Do you think don’t hear you, Sarah? Calling his name out in your dreams? And now when we're having sex? What the fuck?” Bradley had yelled in my face as I sat numbly in the chair by the window. The fight had been going on for hours now, his need to derive a truth from me that I couldn’t even begin to explain. 

“What do you want me to say, Bradley?” I shrugged, not caring any longer. It was over. It was all over. 

“I want the truth! Why are you yelling out his name?? And why the fuck do you have such an obsession with him? He’s your fucking guardian, practically your dad! Are you fucking crazy? This is the real world, not some sick, twisted fantasy world!” 

I snorted without humor. If only Bradley and so many others knew how real he really was. 

“What, Sarah? What’s that noise you made? What?” Bradley continued yelling. “Who is it? Are you having an affair?” 

“No, I’m not sleeping with anyone,” I answered him. “It’s only been you since we married.” 

“Yeah, well I don’t believe that!” 

“You don’t have to believe it, but it’s true.” I stood up, dropping the blanket in the chair, and made to walk away. Bradly grabbed me by my wrist and spun me around. His eyes were wild, his lips glistening with spittle in his rage. 

“Tell me who you’ve been sleeping with!” He yelled in my face. I didn’t back down though. Not this time. 

His breath was hot with alcohol and rage. I closed my eyes, anticipating what was next, but hoping it wouldn’t happen. I hoped that it wouldn’t happen with Bradley. Not with this gentle giant that was my husband. He’d never raised his voice to me until after we got married, and the cracks in our foundation had started showing. Once we got married, I realized that Bradley was so much like my father in so many ways. Not as bad, but a different kind of same. He wanted to control me through money and my time, but so far he’d never hit me. He’d raised his voice when we argued, and yes, he was getting increasingly louder. The red flags were there, and getting brighter by the day. _Probably why I married him,_ I thought wryly. I seemed to have a thing for men that weren’t any good for me. 

“Tell me!” Bradley screamed again, and when no answer came, he shoved me backwards. I fell, reaching for the bed, and finding nothing but the edge of the ottoman as it collided with my cheek. I was so fucking pissed as I ran a hand over my throbbing cheek, knowing I’d have a bruise, and a hard time explaining it to work in the morning. I stood up, and Bradley was already apologizing when he saw the red mark on my cheek under my eye. 

“Sarah, oh my god, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean for that to happen! I’m just so mad, and I wanted to get you away from me before I did something stupid, and…” he reached for me, but I flung his hands away with a slap. 

“Don’t fucking touch me!” I hissed. I was crying and so very frustrated. 

Bradley was crying also, tears rolling down his cheeks, and I felt disgusted with all of it. With him and me and all of it. I shoved my feet back in my shoes and pulled on my hoodie. I grabbed my cell and headed out of our room. Bradley followed, pleading with me. 

“Sarah, babe, please. Don’t leave. Stay so we can talk. I’m so fucking sorry.” He followed me to the door.

“I never slept with anyone but you, Bradley! Believe it or not.” I tugged off the wedding and engagement rings and dropped them on the floor at his feet. He stared at them in shock, and then back at me. I gave a dispassionate laugh. “You and I both know this marriage is done. I’ll be filing for divorce tomorrow morning. Leave me alone and don’t call me. Just leave me alone. Good bye.” 

Of course, it was storming outside. When didn’t it storm on south Louisiana? I pulled my jacket around my shoulders as I plodded on through the rain. I made my way down the street, not caring that I was getting drenched. I had nowhere to go except a hotel room. Bradley would be following me soon, I knew. After making my way over to the bus stop on the corner to seek shelter, I pulled out my cell and called an Uber. I needed to get away from here. I needed to think. 

As I waited on my ride, I pondered my whole life. I had less than two-thousand dollars in my own savings account, the one I’d been squirrelling away money to for just this reason. I knew that I wouldn’t make it long without Bradley’s income. He had control of all of it except for my meager check I earned as a part-time artist down at a local newspaper office. He’d revealed his true colors soon after we married, his controlling and needing to know my every move, though he’d never hurt me until tonight. I reached up, fingering my swollen jaw and winced. I’d be bruised in the morning, and I wondered how I’d explain that to my colleagues. I pulled out my cellphone, and scrolled through my contacts. I’d probably just call in sick tomorrow. And the next day until my bruise was able to be hidden by my makeup. _God, I was so fucking aggravated!_

I stared at my phone and my annoyance grew. 

Eight missed calls from Bradley. Eight, and it had only been less than an hour that I’d been gone. Three text messages, each one getting increasingly aggressive as he demanded to know where I was. I scanned through my emails, looking for what I knew not, before returning to my text messages. I scrolled through my messages, finding the last one that Vlad had sent me over a year ago on my birthday. Every year it was the same text, right on my birthday, what he had texted me:

**If you ever need anything, please call me. I’ll come. I will always come.**

I had never responded to any of them. The first one made me mad. The second year, it made me madder. Then, for whatever reason, I started getting not so mad, and just became numb to it. Dismissive. I wished he would just stop texting me, and yes, I could have blocked his number, but I never found the strength to do so. Maybe the small part of me that still dreamed about him didn’t want to sever the only tie left between us so permanently. I didn’t know. 

Outside of that annual text, he never messaged me or contacted me, and I never once responded or reached back out to him. I ran my fingers over his name, and before I knew it, after all these years, I was texting him back. 

**It’s me. I left him. I don’t know where I’m going to go, but I’m leaving him. You don’t have to answer. I just wanted you to know.**

I pressed send, then immediately regretted it, and wished I could take it back. Vlad didn’t care about me. He’d said that very thing when I’d left him. I swallowed down my unease at what I'd just done.

My phone buzzed in my hand.

It was him.


	15. Chapter 15

Less than a half-hour later, Vlad had arranged a hotel for me back up in the city. Far enough away from Bradley that I could at least think straight. After talking to him via phone, I had a feeling he would come, but I wasn’t even remotely prepared for it. Hours later, I was lying in bed, watching the rain pelt against the window, my eyes dropping closed when I heard the knock. I got up and went to the door, and I just knew it was him. Still, that knowledge didn’t stop my breath from leaving my body as I saw his face for the first time in so long. He stared at me through the doorway, those dark eyes seeing everything. 

“Invite me in.” 

I opened the door as if on cruise control, my words were a whisper as I told him to come in. Vlad stepped over the threshold, and then I was in his arms. He crushed me against his chest, and was taking in deep breaths of my scent as he cradled my head against his body. I started sobbing, years’ worth of heartache and sadness and loneliness all pouring from me in waves of grief. Vlad lifted me, carrying me at his chest as he walked us to the bed and sat down. He held me in his lap, much as one would a child. His lips were pressed against my forehead, and I was soaking him with my tears. 

“My sweet Sarah, I am so sorry,” he murmured against my head. 

I continued crying, not believing he was here. I wrapped my arms around his neck and cried into his shoulder. Minutes passed with him just holding me, until finally I was spent and had nothing left but hiccups and the occasional ragged breaths. 

“Sarah, look at me.” 

I nuzzled tighter in his neck, not wanting him to see my face. He insisted and pulled me face up to meet his gaze. His hands cupped my cheek, and I saw in his eyes the moment he recognized the mark on my cheek. Anger flashed across his features, hot and violent and menacing. 

“Please tell me you fell down…” 

“Yes.” I felt another wave of tears fill my eyes. “Kinda. It was an accident.” 

“Did he hit you?” Vlad’s jaw ticked, his brows furrowed. I nodded, first 'no', then 'yes', and then 'no' again. 

“It was more like a push, and then I fell, and….” I shook my head. “It was an accident.” 

Vlad took in a deep breath, and moved me from his chest so that he could very calmly set me on the bed. He stood up, adjusting his clothing. I crawled over and grabbed him, holding him tightly at the wrist. He would not meet my eyes, but he didn’t toss me aside either. 

“Please don’t. I know what you’re going to do, and I won’t stop you, but please, don’t go right now.” I tugged at him. “Please don’t leave me.” 

“I can’t even think straight right now. _Let me go._ ” His words were soft and deadly.

A warning.

When he turned to look at me, I could see the red creeping into the whites, and I released him so that I could scoot back on the bed. I nodded at him, and then he was gone, back out the door and into the night. I lay back in the bed and crawled under the sheets and the blanket, knowing that there was nothing I could do to sway him. I knew exactly where he was going and what he was going to do. 

* * *

I shivered, feeling his presence in my room, long before I had opened my eyes. I didn’t know what time it was, only that it was still dark in the room. I reached out, blindly searching for him. “Vlad?” 

His deep voice echoed in the quiet. “I’m here, little one. Go back to sleep.”

I sat up, blinking a few times to see better, and saw him sitting in the chair nearest the window, his back to me. I crawled off the bed and walked over to him, and without waiting, crawled up into his lap. He allowed it, shifting just a bit as he held me at his chest. His chin rested on my head, and with his arms around me, I sighed in contentment. 

“He said he loved you.”

I said nothing as the lump formed in my throat. 

“And I asked the same question of him, that I did to your father: How can you profess love when you treat her so badly?” Vlad continued. “And do you know what he said?” 

“What?” I blinked rapidly. I was so sick of crying. 

“That he was sorry. That he hadn’t meant to do it, and that he’d never do it again. He was sorry.” Vlad stiffened, his words laced with anger. “And for a moment, I thought he was just trying to save himself. But then, when I bit him, I did not see in him the same thing that I saw in your father. He was sorry, and I don't believe he would have done it again. He was, by most standards, a decent man, and I think he was hurting. You had hurt him, Sarah.” His arms tightened around me. “And I knew that you cared for him, and I just couldn't finish him. I couldn't do it. And honestly, right now, I don't know if he's alive or dead. I don't know if I've killed him or not.” Vlad dropped his head back against the chair and stared up at the ceiling as he continued his confession. "I’ve never behaved in this way. It’s incredibly odd, and makes absolutely no bloody sense to me. It's almost as if I've developed a conscience." 

I didn’t know what to say, and so I said nothing. I moved in as close as I could to him, not drawing warmth from his cold frame, but comfort. Comfort that he was here with me, and that no one would ever hurt me so long as he was here. And I wanted to offer him comfort in return. 

“Why did you call me?” Vlad asked plainly. I shrugged. 

“I don’t know.”

“Oh Sarah, don’t play coy with me.” He leaned back and forced me to meet his eyes. He sounded stern, but I saw the beginnings of a smile playing at the corner of his lips. “You knew I would come if you called.” 

“I hoped you would, but I didn’t expect it after what you…after our fight, I didn’t know if you would or not.” I buried my face at his chest again, and he let me. Silence ensued for some time, and then he spoke again. 

“I was wrong to speak to you the way I did,” he apologized. “But I needed you to go and try, darling. You want children. You want a life that I can’t give you. You must know that what you want from me is impossible.” He grabbed my hand and laced his fingers with mine. “And what I want, it’s entirely selfish.”

“Can we not talk about what's right and wrong? I feel like we've been having this same conversation for a hundred years, and I'm tired of it. Really tired." I rubbed my face against his chest. "And I’ve had three miscarriages now. Maybe I can’t even have kids.” I felt my eyes well again, wondering if having children with Bradley would have made a difference. I guess it didn’t matter now, though, if he was dead. 

“I’m sorry, little one.” His other hand cupped the back of my head and held me against his heart. 

“Don’t be. Not your fault.” I sniffled. Silence again, the only sound that of the rain falling outside the window and pelting the glass as we sat together. 

“Can you take me with you?” I peeked up at him, staring at the underside of his chin. “I won’t bother you, I swear.” 

“What sweet little lies you tell,” Vlad gave a toothy grin, and his grip tightened around me. I hugged him back. 

“My job sucks. I don't have anywhere to stay. I have no one here. And I swear, I will never mention my feelings for you ever again, if that’s what you want.” I quietly vowed. 

“What I want is impossible,” Vlad rejoined, his voice having dropped. “But I do think it best you come with me to the house. The new house. That way I can keep an eye on you.” 

And so we went, deep under cover of night, back to Vlad’s place. I never went back to my house, and some part of me worried that the cops would be searching for me before too long, but I knew Vlad was nothing if not thorough in his... _dealings._ He didn't like to leave a mess. And I hoped that Bradley was okay, at least. I would never go back to him, but I certainly didn't want him dead. I just wanted to pretend like none of it had never happened, and I tried not to think of any of it on the drive back. The entire time, I held Vlad's hand as he rested his heavy palm against my thigh. We never stopped touching.

Some 6 hours later, we pulled up in the driveway of a new home, not the one I’d left. This was even larger than the one before, if possible. A huge two-story mansion set off at the very end of the island, nestled back against the most exclusive of homes. Gated and secretive, just like he was. My mouth dropped open when I walked inside the large foyer, and I turned to him, giving him an appreciative grin. 

“Well, Count Dracula, you’ve done well for yourself. Rubbing elbows with Galveston’s rich and famous.” I turned back to him, and his grin faded as his eyes landed on the mark on my cheek and swelling under my eye. I went to him, and pressed my hand at his forearm.

“It’ll fade.” I nodded up at him. “It’ll fade.” 

“I should have killed him a hundred times over.” His jaw ticked. 

“Can we not talk about that, please?” I lowered my gaze and moved so that I could press up against him. His arms came around me as they always did. 

“Are you sad?” 

“A little, yes. A part of me loved him. But I don’t want to think about it. Please. I just want to go lay down.” I looked up, resting my chin on his chest. “With you.” 

"Are you mad at me?" Vlad asked, and I frowned at the uncertainty in his voice. I tried to find his eyes, but he was looking off and away. I reached up and turned his face to me, forcing him to meet my eyes. I needed him to see that I still loved him, no matter what. 

"I know what you are and I know what you do. And you told him that if he hurt me, you'd have to kill him." I gave an unhappy smile. "And I would have preferred he not be dead, but if he is, then I will just have to learn to live with this reality." 

"And what reality is that?" Vlad trailed a finger down my cheek. 

"The reality is that you want me, and I want you, and if you're too stubborn to do anything, I guess I'll just have to be the one in charge from now on." I stepped back a few feet, kicked off my shoes, and pulled my teeshirt over my head. I tossed it aside, an impish smile on my face. I popped the button on my jeans, and tugged at my zipper, and I nearly burst out laughing when I saw Vlad's Adam apple bob as he caught sight of my black panties peeking from the opening in my jeans. His eyes darted up to mine. He looked like a trapped animal. 

"What are you doing?" He rasped, and I wanted to laugh at how comical he looked as he forced himself to look anywhere but at my breasts, their fullness barely hidden by my bra. I reached behind me, one brow playfully cocked, and fiddled with the clasp holding the two ends of the undergarment together. 

"I'm tired of this. I'm a woman and I want you. And you want me. And we've been screwing around this for years, and I'm just so over it." I popped one of the metal clasps, and the bra shifted. "I want you and you want me. And now, it's going to happen." 

Vlad shook his head at me and held up a finger in warning. "Don't." 

"Don't what?" I popped another clasp, and then there was no stopping me as I undid the whole thing. I unhooked the bra, and with no further constriction, my breasts slipped down and peeked out from below the fabric. I tugged the straps down my arms and dropped the black, lacy balconette on the floor at my feet so it joined my tee.

I smiled at Vlad's expression, and gave a dramatic shrug, one that I knew would jiggle my breasts. "Oops." 

His eyes narrowed as he focused on my breasts, and I felt my nipples tighten as he stared a hole right through me. I wanted to laugh again - _The poor man was doing his damnedest to not see me!_ But I was done taking no for an answer. Emboldened, I walked over to him, and began unbuttoning his shirt. He tilted his head back, and his Adam's apple continued to bob furiously as my fingers opened his shirt, revealing the wide expanse of a muscular chest covered with dark, coarse hair. Smiling, I pressed my nose against his bare chest, breathing in his cologne as I pushed his shirt down his arms, and nuzzled him. I smiled harder when he shook. 

"Take it off." 

"Sarah-"

 _"Take it offf. Now."_ I firmly repeated, and he listened. His shirt joined my tee and bra and shoes on the floor. I brazenly pressed myself against his chest, sighing with happiness as I felt the coarseness of his hair pressed against the smooth, sensitive skin of my breasts. I wrapped my arms around him and caressed his stiff back. "Wow, Vlad. You are super tense. Anything I can do to help?" I reached down and cupped his ass, giving him a gentle squeeze as I pulled his hips towards mine. He shuddered in my arms, and I snorted with laughter. 

"This is insanity," he croaked in a strained whisper. His hands had come to rest on the tops of my shoulders, whether to steady me or himself, I had no idea. And I really didn't care, as long as he didn't push me away again. 

"Maybe, but who cares?" I slid my hand along his ribs, and around to the front of his stomach, exploring him, delighting in the hair the trailed from his chest to his belly and then disappeared into the waist of his pants. I ran my fingers along the edge of his pants, and he trembled. Loving him, I pressed a kiss at his sternum just as I slid my hand down further and cupped his hard erection in my hand. He shook again as I palmed his length through the fabric of his pants. 

"You want me," I whispered against his skin. I squeezed him with my hand as Iicked a circle into the skin right near his left nipple. "Don't you?"

His arms came around me, and he pressed his mouth at my forehead in the sweetest of kisses, and I wanted to die right then and there. I kissed his chest again, encouraged. 

"I do." 

"Then?" I bit his left pectoral muscle, grinning when I saw him twitch. My tongue darted out to flick at his right nipple and a groan rumbled through him. 

"Are you absolutely sure?" 

I tilted my head up and glared at him with huge amounts of annoyance. "Vlad. Seriously." 

"Then put your arms around my neck, sweetness." He reached down and lifted me, one large hand spread under each of my thighs, and I did as he asked, pressing my mouth against his shoulder in order to leave open-mouth kisses all over him. He lightly bit my neck, but I was not afraid. He nipped at the edge of my ear and growled: "And wrap those beautiful legs 'round my waist." 

That last part came out in such a carnal, commanding way that I felt I'd wet my pants, so aroused was I. He grinned as I squirmed against him, and I knew that he knew what he was doing to me. He was now in charge, and we both knew. I wriggled again. Restlessly, wantonly. Unashamed and unabashed with him. 

"I can smell you sweetheart," he calmly remarked as he carried me up the stairs, his steps confident and easy as he carried me away.

"I don't know if that's good or bad," I whispered against his neck. I felt feverish, out of breath and so damned aroused I could hardly stand it. 

"Oh it's very good, darling," Vlad smoothly replied. "Very good, indeed..." 

**to be continued....**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't kill Bradley. Sorry. I originally wrote him as having been killed, but dealing with cops was gonna be a pain in my ass, so he has survived for now.
> 
> And I apologize about the cliffhanger. What a shitty place to stop, amirite?? Haha 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	16. Chapter 16

We entered his room, and he wasted no time in laying me down on the bed. I scooted back, propelled by my hands, and quickly covered my breasts with a pillow. Vlad smirked. 

“Now, now. It’s not time for modesty, sweetheart.” He unbuckled his belt and tugged it from his pant loops. It came out in a swoosh that made my heart beat faster.

His dark eyes were on me, and I suddenly felt like I was dinner. _His dinner._ I swallowed. He undid the top bottom of his pants, and I saw the dark color of his underwear, and my anxiety began to rise as his pants began to sink on his hips. I had been so confident downstairs, and now I was on the verge of a panic attack. Vlad’s smirk grew in intensity, making him look more like the devil I knew he was. 

“I can hear you.” He leaned over the end of the bed, and reached for my bare foot. He grasped me at my ankle, and yanked me back down the bed until I was under him. “ _And fucking hell can I smell you._ ” He pressed his nose at my crotch and sniffed, and I went speechless at how raw and raunchy it was. At how obscene he was. His eyes met mine again from his spot between my thighs. “Are you frightened?” 

“A little,” I nodded. My hands had come to cover my breasts as I peered down at him. I was already a shaking mess, and he’d only barely touched me. 

“And why is that?” He looked back down at my belly, and kissed the skin around my navel, nuzzling me with the roughness of his beard as he mouthed all around my lower belly. Breathless, I lay back, still holding my breasts, and stared up at the ceiling. My eyes closed as I focused on him, and the feeling of him finally kissing me in such a way as I'd wanted him to for so damn long. 

“ _Sarah_ …talk to me, please,” he murmured as he lightly bit at my hipbone he’d revealed by tugging down my jeans. “What are you afraid of?” 

My eyes opened at his question, my skin awash in a fresh set of goosebumps as he continued nuzzling me. 

“You’re so old and have probably had so many people and I’m just…” I trailed off, not knowing how to explain my feelings of inadequacy to him. 5 minutes ago, I was stripping and ready to push him up against a wall. And now, I was so embarrassed and feeling so inexperienced, and I was doubting it all. He kissed my stomach one more time and then crawled up my body. His eyes were glowing as he smiled down at me. 

“It’s true, yes, I’ve been around for a very long time. And I have… _sampled_ …so many people.” He leaned down and kissed my collarbone. “But if you think I can’t appreciate this”—another kiss on the opposite side of my chest – “then you are sorely mistaken, little one. None of them have been or will be as exquisite as I know you are.” 

He placed one hand over mine as it rested on my breast, and laced his fingers with mine. 

“Let go.” He tugged on my hand. “Let me see what you’ve got hidden under here.” 

I allowed him to take my hand and he pressed it up above my head, and in doing so, my breast rose proudly under his gaze. His eyes darkened as a splash of heat reddened the skin of my chest. 

“So very beautiful…” He reached over and traced my areola with the sharpest point of the nail on his middle finger, and I felt my nipple tighten painfully. His thumb grazed over the taut point, and I closed my eyes in pleasure. His eyes sought my face again, and then he was moving, and I nearly screamed when I felt the added moist heat of his mouth, and then the sharpness of his teeth against my aching nipple. He laved the hard bud, over and over, until he released me with a soft kiss. 

“Fucking hell, Sarah. I could worship at these spectacular breasts for the rest of eternity.” He licked me again, and then he pinched my nipple lightly, the sharp sting of pleasure mixing with pain just enough to get my attention. “Sarah, open your eyes, darling.” My eyes popped open, my pupils blown wide with lust. He smirked. 

“There she is.” He leaned over and kissed at the corner of my lips. “My beautiful girl. There she is.” 

“You can’t leave this time, okay?” I whispered against his mouth. “Vlad?” I cupped his jaws in my hands, holding him against me lest he move away. My need for this man was purely instinctual now, almost animalistic in my desperation. His chuckle rumbled against my lips. 

“I’m not going anywhere, little one. Not this time.” He nipped at my lower lip, and then my top, tugging it free with a soft _‘pop’_. 

“You always say that,” I whispered against the roughness of his cheek as I held him close.

_I couldn’t get enough of him._

His cold body was somehow warming me, though I wasn’t entirely sure if it was from the love in my heart, or the happiness in my soul. Or perhaps it was the all-encompassing, red-hot lust coursing through my veins… _I had no idea, and_ _really, I didn’t care._ All that mattered was him and his touch. He nipped at my jaw, then up along its edge until he reached the curve of my neck and then he found the shell of my ear with his teeth. I shivered under him. He grabbed my hand, and dragged it down his chest, and pressed it at the front of his undone pants. HIs erection, hard and heavy, rested against my hand. 

“Do you feel that?” He groaned against me when I grasped his heavy length in my palm. I squeezed gently, and he groaned again, some sound I'd never heard him make. “I’m not going anywhere, love. Not this time.” 

The sound of his moans sent fresh waves of heat coursing through my body, and I wanted more. So much more. I traced the outline of his erection with my fingers, from the base all the way to the tip that I knew would be leaking. He twitched against my hand, and I tried to circle his heavy girth, but Vlad pulled my hand away. He was panting when his eyes met mine, his features strained through his smile. 

“You are beautiful, sweetness.” He pressed the tip of his tongue inside my ear, eliciting another shiver from me as he whispered - “So very beautiful. But if you don’t stop touching me like that, I’m going to sorely disappoint us both.” 

I reached for him again, but he quickly grabbed my hand and placed it against his chest in warning. 

His free hand traveled down along my side, running along my waist and then down my hip as he clutched at me and pulled me closer. I could feel equal parts of desperation and caution in his touch. I reached up and pressed my hands at his chest. I wanted more. Wanted him. Craved so much more. I traced along the edge of his pants, smirking when he gave me such a heated look of warning as my fingers dipped below the waist of his underwear. I lay back to look up at him.

“Take it off. All of it.” 

“Demanding little thing, aren't we?” he grinned, but did as I asked. 

The muscles of his chest and abdomen flexed and bunched as he maneuvered to get his pants off, and I couldn’t resist leaning up to press my nose at the dark patch of hair resting between his pectoral muscles. Christ, but I could stay there all day, inhaling him. Feeling him. Touching him. His soft grunts above me, I pushed at him until he rolled over and then I straddled him. I looked down at him, the insides of my stomach clenching as I saw him bite at his lower lip. I crawled up his thighs, situating myself above his groin, and I felt him. My eyes met his in question as I tugged at the waist of his underwear that he’d not yet removed. He shook his head. 

“Not yet.” 

“But why?” I whined as I rolled against his hard length. He hissed between his teeth, and clamped down on my hips, holding me in place. 

“Come here, darling,” he beckoned me with a finger, and I did as he commanded.

I leaned over him, allowing him to kiss me again, this time harder, and I felt the sharpness of his teeth as he lightly bit at the vein pulsing in my neck. For a moment, I felt a frisson of fear, but then my eyes met his, and I saw that he was still my Vlad, and I was okay. I leaned over him, wanting to feel his chest against my mouth again, and began working my way from one side to the next. Gentle laps at his skin, exploratory nips with my teeth and lips, soft soothing swipes of my tongue, all over his chest. I focused on his right nipple, already pebbled into a hard peak, and pulled him into my mouth while my other hand worked the left one. Vlad’s hand curled painfully in my hair, and that combined with the deep groan he released as I circled him with my tongue, produced a gush of wetness between my thighs. I squirmed against him restlessly. His hands found my hips, his nails dug into my skin. He pushed at my jeans. I looked up and his eyes met mine, dark and full of lust and want. He flipped us over, and then he was tugging at my pants, harshly jerking them off me. He tossed them on the floor, and before I could breathe, he was between my legs. He roped his long arms around my upper thighs, his hands resting at the junction of my groin, and nosed the fabric of my panties. I arched my back and groaned loudly, feeling like I was going to die. And Vlad was going to be the one to kill me. I wantonly rolled my hips against him, soaking his mouth. 

“You are positively dripping, darling,” the vampire grinned against me. He nosed at my core, seeming to delight when he felt me stiffen at the hardness of his nose pressed so insistently against my sex. “Whatever shall I do with you?” He traced a finger over my swollen lower lips, daring to dip under the fabric and run his digit over my slit, each movement eliciting another gush of wetness that coated his finger. 

“Shall I bite you here?” He licked at the fabric covering my heat, adding even more wetness. “Or shall I fuck you?” He began pulling my panties to the side, only to forgo that as he tore them from my body with just a twitch of his fingers. He smiled, grinning like a cat that got the cream, when he saw me fully. 

“I think I shall take my fill first.” He dragged a finger over me, forcing my body to shake with new tremors. “And then, when you are utterly and completely spent, my dear, I am going to fuck your brains out.” The vampire placed one hand at the junction of each thigh, and pushed, spreading me open, revealing even more of my dripping core to his view. “You are splendid, darling.” He licked me up from top to bottom, and my thighs began shaking. “Positively sinful.” 

He lowered his head, and I whimpered when I felt the sharpness of his teeth as he lightly bit the skin at the junction of my right thigh. At the same time, his thumb began circling my clit, and I arched up of the bed, my body strung tight as he played me so well. Danger was forgotten, because all I cared abut in that moment was his mouth on me. Nothing else mattered. 

“Vlad…please….” I cried softly as I reached down to grab a fistful of his hair. He grunted at me, and I loosened my grip. “You’re driving me crazy…” I panted as I rolled my hips. I could feel him smile down there, and that brought forth another gush of wetness. 

He began circling my entrance, trailing one sharp fingernail over my opening, and one at my clit, teasing me over and over with soft, slow strokes, until I wanted to scream with frustration. With each flick of his finger at that tight bundle of nerves, he was pushing me closer and closer to the precipice, and I knew that _if I could just get him to touch me there_...I wiggled against his hand, trying to find the spot that I knew would--

He slid his finger inside my entrance, first one as he tested me, and then another, and then another, and then I was coming so hard that I did scream. It was the buildup, it was the anticipation of so many years, it was him – I don’t know, but as soon as he slipped that first finger in, I was gone. The second and third had just sent me tumbling right over the edge. I turned my head, grasping handfuls of sheets under me, crying out his name as I convulsed around him. He flicked at the that spot inside me a few times, all the while his tongue worked my throbbing clit, and he was grinning as I shuddered over and over and over, helpless to do anything except what he wanted. Finally, he’d wrung everything from me that he could, and he relented. He withdrew his finger, earning another whole-body shiver from me as he did so. My legs were shaking uncontrollably, my thighs quivering around his shoulders. 

“Well, darling,” he purred as he crawled up my body and met my eyes. I looked back at him, dazed and out of breath. “That’s one.” 

“What-“ 

He leant down and took my mouth in his, and I could taste myself on his lips, and I felt so utterly filthy that my body began wetting itself again. I could feel it dripping down the insides of my thighs, could feel it soaking the sheets under me. Vlad reached down to press his hand at my sex, and when my gaze met his, he was grinning like the devil as my arousal coated his fingers, making it oh so very slippery. He rubbed his long fingers and his heavy palm against me, and I could feel my hips beginning to move as they sought out more pleasure. 

“You really are so responsive to me, aren’t you?” He tilted his head. “Whatever shall I do with you?”

Without waiting for an answer, he flipped us over and pulled me on top of him. At some point, he’d removed his underwear, and now I could feel his erection pressed along the seam of my ass. He sat up and gathered me into his arms, lifting me so that he could position me just right, and then he was there, filling me up so full that I thought I would burst. As I slid down his length, my hands clutched at his shoulders to steady myself, my mind focused on him and me, and us, on the spot where we were slowly fusing together and becoming one. 

“That’s it, darling,” Vlad grunted as he guided my hips down upon him, my body swallowing his length, inch by precious inch. “Take it. _Take it all_.” He pressed at my hips, forcing me down, until finally I was completely seated on him and bottomed out. We sat there for a moment, trying to catch our breaths and our bodies struggling to adjust to the fit. Vlad wrapped my arms around his shoulders, and I rested my head against him, and then he was moving. Soft rolls of his hips at first, and then long, lengthy strokes as he moved in and out of me. We both wanted more. I kissed his jaw, and then leaned back to push at his chest. His eyes widened a bit, and he was smiling when he lay back. 

I started rolling my hips, up and down, pulling myself up off him until only the engorged tip of his cock remained in me, and then I slid back down, each slow drag of my walls against him pulling another moan, another groan, another ragged sigh from both of us. I leaned over him to press my breasts at his chest, to press my mouth at his neck, to rub myself all over him as much as I could. All the while, my hips were rolling, undulating over him, fucking him. _Hard._

Vlad was grunting, the veins in his neck and chest and arms on prominent display as he pushed me back so that I was sat astride him. He looked at the spot where we were joined, and then his black eyes met mine. 

“That’s it, love,” he grunted. “Fuck me. Ride me.” The last command was punctuated by a sharp thrust of his hips, and my head fell back at the feeling of being so damned full. I clutched at his chest, my fingers digging into his skin, but it was like trying to tear a marble statue. I drew my knees up so that they were resting on his abdomen, and Vlad grabbed at my breasts, cupping me softly, and then pinching my nipples sharply, and all I could do was close my eyes and fall over the edge again. 

My second orgasm ripped through me with such force that I wanted to cry, and then I felt Vlad clutching at my hips, his body gone tight as steel, and I knew he was coming. The feeling of him convulsing within me, the way his hands were desperately clawing at my hips, undoubtedly leaving bruises for tomorrow. He was cursing in some unintelligible language, and when I looked down, I saw his eyes had fluttered closed as he panted, his body shuddering in wave after wave of pleasure. His stomach muscles were etched, and all the veins in his chest and arms were bulging as he fucked the last of himself into me. I thought I was going to die as Vlad relentlessly slammed into me, over and over, the force of his thrusts borderline painful as he chased the remnants of his orgasm, until finally, finally he stilled under me. 

Completely spent and feeling dizzy, I collapsed on his chest in a shaking mess, my whole body covered with a fine sheen of sweat as I trembled with weakness. Vlad gathered me to him, kissing my temple and then my shoulder, and then my neck – any part of me he could reach without expending too much effort. His hand reached up to cup my cheek, and he pressed a sweet kiss at my forehead as he gathered me to his neck, and that was the last thing I remembered before I feel into an exhausted sleep…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, just ignore me. 
> 
> I'll be in my box of shame. 
> 
> And also, blame yourselves for that gif. One of y'all showed it to me, and I was forced to use it. Not gonna mention no names, though....
> 
> hahaha


End file.
